Sleep, who needs it?

For the past few nights, Connor has been trying to teach Ed and I how little sleep one actually needs to be able to function the next day. For example, I now know it is possible to wake up every two hours and stay awake for 30 minutes each time, a feat that I never even attempted before. Even in college, I pulled exactly one "all-nighter", and that was in grad school - and it was a big mistake. I suppose it's only fair since he allowed us to have so much sleep in the early weeks. Let's just say that Ed and I are seriously hoping this phase ends very quickly, because we're not sure how long we can take this.

Today, however, was a great day and nearly made up for last night. As the photo shows, he is now able to hold his head up and look around a bit while on his tummy. He also went on a car ride without crying (YAY!), and while I sat and had a cup of hot cocoa, he hung out in his car seat and actually played with his beloved cube. He was holding it, shaking it, chewing on it - pretty much enjoying his whole repertoire of activities. He was very cute. Unfortunately, no photos of the great event because the camera was at home - doh!

Tomorrow, I'll be back at work again and fear that my new lack of sleep may be a bit more difficult to deal with than it is when I'm hanging out with Connor. After all, he doesn't mind when I repeat myself and his books are pretty easy to read. Guess only time will tell. Cross your fingers for me that he sleeps at least a little bit longer tonight.

Elaine

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving

We're back in DC - and I can happily report that Connor was a champ on all of our flights. Connor got to enjoy the pleasure of rocking with Pappy from 5:00 - 5:30 one morning (thank you Dad!) after I fed him. The night before, the greatest miracle happened. I fed Connor, dropped him back in his bed, and then he woke up, but fell back to sleep! This skill was immediately forgotten the next day, which is why Connor got to enjoy the rocking chair. The photo above was taken earlier in the day when my dad and all of his grandkids were enjoying said chair.



Ed and I got a taste of what it's like to have older children when hanging out with my sister's kids. If you ever wondered why Ed had a slight preference for a boy, I think this photo clears it all up. (Emily is in the photo, Anna was the photographer.) Later that night, Ed got to enjoy two birthday cakes made in the Easy Bake oven by Anna and Emily the night before. He shared with everyone else and they were delicious! We think Anna and Emily should keep the cakes coming and hope they make one for Connor's birthday in August when he will finally get to know the joy of chocolate. Did I mention what a tragedy I think it is that he has to wait this long to eat my favorite food?


And man, Connor, you have become the drooling champion - taking our old game of spit bubble to a whole new level! It's really quite impressive. Don't worry though, your grandparents still adore you as much as they always have. I have to tell you though, that your late night antics aren't gaining you any friends in this household. Your dad, was a little annoyed one night when he walked around with you for an hour and you wouldn't go to sleep even though you had just had an enormous meal with Mims. Luckily, you went to sleep almost immediately when I took over so you were still tops in my book. Of course, it would be premature for me to claim victory since that pattern was reversed tonight when Daddy had to step in to get you to sleep after I had been trying for about an hour. It's true...as soon as we think we have you figured out, you change. That's what keeps life interesting, I suppose. And don't worry, both your dad and I still think you are the cutest little guy ever and can't wait to see what you suprise us with each day.

Elaine

Ahhh..Home Sweet Home

We made it to my childhood home yesterday. Photos from Miami and a post about the fabulous CORAL CASTLE will be available when I return to DC and post them. For now, thought I would announce that he has officially outgrown some of his 0-3 month clothes. This was a bit inconvenient, since we are out of town, but we have enough clothes that fit to make it.


During our trip to Miami, Connor learned to announce his displeasure about the four-wheeled torture chamber VERY LOUDLY. (For those of you not restrained in seats, this vehicle is known as a car!) On the way from the airport to my sister's house, Connor showed that he could cry for 45 minutes without backing down. Luckily, once he cried enough he was magically removed from the car seat - either that or we actually arrived at my sister's house. In any case, all was forgiven as he started smiling and cooing as soon as the car stopped and he was released from his seat.

His cousin Anna held him for quite some time yesterday, and she even coaxed many smiles and coos out of Connor. His cousin Emily will have duty tonight.


Finally, he enjoyed hanging out in the swing for a bit as he pondered the dog.

Miami

We're in Miami! After having lunch at Gump's restaurant, we walked on the beach and attempted to visit Parrot Island. Unfortunately, this attraction has been closed since Hurricane Wilma came through. We almost got to enjoy a private viewing of Parrot Island because the gates were open and we started to walk in. Someone who worked there called out across the courtyard we had just crossed to see what we were doing, and then informed us that the island was closed. Bummer! We walked around South Beach and checked out the art deco buildings which were pretty cool.

Today, we were ready to do some serious sightseeing, so drove quite a ways to a national park - only to find out that the boat rides that normally take place weren't happening because they are preparing for Tropical Storm Gamma. We walked around a bit, but didn't get to see a whole lot. The cruddy thing is that the drive was nearly unbearable, as Connor has decided that his mild aversion to the car is now a serious aversion. The kid can cry for about an hour - at which point we stopped the car because we had arrived. At one point, I looked up to see Ed covering his ears at a stoplight, while I tried to get Connor interested in his pacifier (which he is still unimpressed with) or anything else. AUGH! The super unfortunate thing is that in his little mind, Connor may have decided that his crying is what caused us to stop the four wheeled torture chamber, not the fact that we had arrived at our destination.


We then got back in the car and went to Coral Castle - which I swear in the tourist info sounded interesting. It, in fact, is possibly the worst tourist attraction ever. Some goofy guy carved a "castle" out of coral, and now the pieces of it are on display with this guy's recorded voice telling you to dream big and someday you too could do something really fabulous like he did. I can hardly believe Ed and I paid to see it. The best part was probably the gift shop. Here, they had little keyrings that coordinated to birthdays and held info about important events that happened on your birthday. Unlike the usual fare which I presume would have something uplifting, these were remarkably unpleasant. For example, on my birthday Pope John Paul II was shot (who knew) and Connor's birthday held the fact that some animal became extinct. Ed's was a bit different. On his birth date, capitol punishment in England was ended and JFK was elected president. I suspect Ed will never allow me to suggest a tourist attraction again. We were going to visit a monastery, but the beach was closer and frankly, none of us could take another moment in the car with Connor. Really, Connor, I love you - but you're making me completely insane. I hope you learn to like the car soon - or at least keep quiet about your dislike so that everyone else's ride isn't made so unpleasant.


Elaine

Flying

Connor took his first flight today. And thankfully, all was well. He ate a little, played a little, and slept a little. I was pretty happy that Ed and I were seated together because when Connor was eating, he was laying down and kicking pretty good, and his legs are just long enough to reach the person in the seat next to him.

After the flight, we waited for our luggage for a long time (that's what the photo shows), and then we all went to the hotel, grabbed dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, and at 9:30, passed out. It was clearly an exhausting day. Connor skipped his midnight feeding (thank you!), and didn't get Ed up too early so Ed was able to sound intelligent when he was talking at the conference (or so other attendees reported).

Earlier in the day, Connor tried on a sweater I made for him. It's still a bit too big - which is better than discovering it's too small.



Also, we tried on the hat that Aunt Linda sent to Connor when she found out I was pregnant. She also sent a pair of socks, presuming that if he had a hat and socks, everything would be fine. As you can see, Connor is totally ready for the beach!


Elaine

Order Restored

Well, it's back to days with Mom for Connor. He survived Thursday, Friday, and then Monday and Tuesday with Dad. All appeared to go well. In fact, the photo above is me trying to capture the smug look on Ed's face as he announced he got Connor to sleep.

Big things have been happening here. Last night, Connor spent the whole night in his own bed - which means although I got up a few times with him, he wasn't nested in my armpit the whole night so that my sleep was much sounder. What is it about my armpit? I have no idea, but even though he has no ability to move during the day, he can inch his way about a foot away from me to my armpit so that he can snuggle up there and sleep when he's next to me in bed. I'm happy to report that he does not have this same affinity for Ed's armpit - and frankly I agree with him. Anyway, he didn't seem to mind sleeping in his own bed, but I sort of missed the little guy. I know - complain about him being in the bed, be sad about him being out of the bed. Can't win sometimes.



Connor's enjoying pulling up with assistance to a sitting position, and then sometimes springing up to a supported standing position. It's unbelievably cute - and I know all parents say that about their kid, but it's TOTALLY TRUE with mine!

We went to Mommy and Me yoga today and about halfway through the class he sucked on my finger and totally passed out on his mat. I felt really bad disturbing his sleep when class ended. He seemed to get over it.

Connor is also trying to figure out what I'm doing when I put that colorful stuff in my mouth. Two nights ago he watched me eat a meal very intent on figuring out what was going on. I told him that eating worked better when one had teeth, but his eyes seemed to indicate he was ready to go for it. Of course, it'll be at least another month before he sees solid food and up to three more months. Hopefully his studies will pay off for him when the time comes.

We're getting on a plane bound for Miami tomorrow. Ed is attending a work conference and I couldn't resist the opportunity to take Connor to the beach.

Elaine

Like mother, like son...thank you NFL

Ahhh...there's nothing like a Sunday full of football games to get one's nap schedule back on track. Ed may find a jog on the trail near our house the best way to spend the afternoon, but I prefer a nice nap while "watching" football. Connor, apparently agrees with me as he lies precariously perched on his boppy watching football with his eyes shut. This is actually a skill that's been passed down for at least another generation in my family as I often remember my dad paying attention to football this way. We haven't taught Connor how to use the remote yet, but I think he is developing my love for the Chiefs. Connor may look like his daddy, but he's rooting for his mama's teams if he's a smart man. (Sorry about rooting for so many bad teams, Connor. But it builds character!)

Last night, Connor continued celebrating his birthday by awakening around 3:00 to a very impressive fart (that's my boy!), and then deciding to eat and talk to me for about a half hour after he finished eating, at which point I told him to just go to sleep, which woke up Ed. Ed then walked around with Connor from 4:00 - 4:45 am, with Connor staring up at him with those bright, very awake eyes he has. At 4:45, Connor finally went back to sleep, only to wake up instantly upon hitting the sheets next to me. He looked at me and smiled, which caused me to laugh and Ed to remark that Connor was not making any friends being awake at this time of day. Connor then ate again and FINALLY went back to sleep. He then dozed until mid-morning and is in the midst of his second long nap for the day as I write. Thank you NFL.



And...after his morning nap, a big "I told you so" from me. See, Connor, you are a much more pleasant guy when you SLEEP! And frankly, your dad and I are much more pleasant people too.

Hope your football teams did better than mine did today.

Elaine

Happy Three Month Birthday!

Dear Connor,

Today, you are three months old. That means you have been living outside of my body for 92 days - and I assure you I can hardly recall what it was like before you came. That's the beauty of learning how to get along with a minimum amount of sleep and having my heart find out how much it's possible to love someone. My brain functions at a minimum necessary level from the sleep deprivation and my emotional state is one that focuses on what a great person you are. The other day, I even heard myself telling a friend how childbirth was easy - at which point Ed looked at me like I had gone completely insane. I guess that's something else a mom's body does as soon as possible - forget the pain it takes to bring babies into the world. By the way - it's painful, though in my case is didn't last too long. And hey, I was at home surrounded by love.

You celebrated this 3 month milestone by abstaining from naps today, despite near heroic efforts on the part of your dad and me. Finally, I slept with you, but even then you only made it about an hour. At present, I'm attempting to nurse you to sleep which usually doesn't take that long, but who knows when you will finally drop tonight. I guess this is what everyone was talking about when they said that much of parenting was two steps forward, one step back. Hopefully tomorrow you will remember how you are a much happier baby when you sleep!

You've learned to make a new sound - it's a high pitched squeal (not associated with pleasure) that your dad told me about but I didn't actually believe until tonight. Wow - that'll get attention every time. Your dad also claims you winked at him today, but I'm not sure I believe this either. You have also started pooping on a daily basis - which is OK, but frankly your dad and I were getting used to and enjoying your 6 day cycle that you have been on since week 4 when Mims and Pappy came to visit and I couldn't believe that you didn't poop for a whole week. Both pediatricians in the practice we go to assured me this was normal, as does the Baby Handbook that Heather sent me. But still, once a week? But I guess all good things come to an end because you've pooped daily for 4 days now. Still better than the babies who poop after or during every feeding, but the 6 day pattern was great once I stopped worrying about it.

Today's photo shows those hands of yours. When you couldn't get your own fingers into your mouth earlier today, you pulled my thumb in. You seemed to enjoy sucking on it for a while. And hey, I thought it might inspire you to sleep so I didn't mind it. No such luck, but it was worth a try.

We tried the stroller out again today, but you still prefer to be carried. And, this doesn't seem too irrational to me since you're stuck looking at the sides of the stroller laying on your back until you're big enough to sit upright in it. Maybe next month...

You're drifting off to sleep now, so hopefully you'll sleep once I drop you in bed.

Love,
Mom

Happy (belated) Birthday Ed and check out those hands!

Ed celebrated his 36th birthday on Wednesday, and Connor celebrated by becoming entranced with his hands. You wouldn't believe how cool those little things are. They go flying by his face and when he gets them to stop, they almost always warrant a smile or at least a little bit of study. This morning, he was able to free one of them from the swaddle blanket and because it was still somewhat restricted, it was easy for him to get his fingers in his mouth to suck on them. I suspect this was his birthday present to Ed since previously he spent a good deal of time sucking on Ed's fingers for comfort. While a bit inconvenient for feeding, it was still tremendously cute to see him get his index finger in his mouth over and over and suck fairly vigorously. Hopefully I'll catch this act on film this evening and update this post with a photo.

In other news, we went out to dinner last night to celebrate the wedding of our friends Biz and Amelia which took place over one year ago. Connor actually did fine in the bar for drinks before dinner (napping in the Baby Bjorn on Ed), and then enjoyed a healty snack while we started to eat dinner, but then being over the pizza oven became a bit unbearable when coupled with the very warm outfit Ed dressed him in because it was cold outside. Ed cut dinner short a tad and took Connor outside where the temperature was much more to their liking. They got to see the Chinatown Express Bus unload (goes from DC's Chinatown, to Silver Spring's Chinatown, to Manhattan's Chinatown). DC's Chinatown, though small, provided lots of amusement for Connor - I suspect because of all those pretty lights.

Elaine

Voting

Today we voted for a new Governor. There are two fairly unique things about governors here. First, as soon as the governor is elected, he will become a lame duck because one term limit. Smart, eh? Second, we elect governors in odd years, I guess because we like the idea of having incredibly low voter turn out. Connor received two "future voter" stickers, and the governor candidate we voted for won (and I can rarely say that candidates I voted for won, so this is pretty exciting). Maybe Connor is good luck. However, as of this writing, the Lieutenant Governor has still not been decided, and we could have a situation with a democrat governor and a republican lieutenant. Nice, eh?

Amazing things Connor can do as of the past few days: bat at toys, smile in response to a smile, stick his tongue out in response to someone sticking their tongue out at him (thanks Ed, for teaching him this one), hold his head pretty still - though I wouldn't rate it perfect head control just yet.

Two images for today's post. One where he's hanging out in the laundry basket while I transfer his wet clothes from the washer to the dryer - one where he's hanging out on the couch and looking pretty big.

Elaine

Back to work for me...days with Dad

Well, tomorrow I will spend my first full day back at the office, which means Connor and I will be separated for the whole day and Ed will be taking charge for the whole day. Hopefully everyone will be OK at the end of the day. From the looks of the photo above, Connor and Ed should have no trouble.

Today we spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to take a nap without me being next to Connor - a regular feature of our afternoons these days. Not that I mind the sleep, but he'll need to be a bit more independent once Olimpia is with him, starting the middle of January.

First illness?

Im not sure about this, but Connor may be trying to shake his first cold. Last night, he went to sleep around 10:00 and except for a few small stirs and needing some hugs at 4AM,I didn't hear from him until 7AM this morning. He's been asleep for much of the day, in my arms as I type this. It's out of character for Connor to take such long naps, and outside of eating and sleeping, he's been pretty grumpy. He does not appear to have a fever - so hopefully this is something small that will pass quickly. I;ve felt under the weather as well, so it wouldn't surprise me if that's how he felt. Bummer!

The photo is from a few days ago. Check out that head control!
Elaine