He went ALL. THE. WAY!

Last night was the first night that Conner slept ALL night -- pretty exciting! David and I woke up at 6 and realized he hadn't been up during the night. After going down for good about 8 (that's after a few stray cries and re-application of the pacifier a couple of times), Conner didn't wake up until 7 this morning!

The downside is that he's been fussy today... not sure why, but I'm waiting for him to wake up from a nap now. He had his good moments, though it seems as soon as David left for work this morning Conner decided to get fussy -- it was his nap time. He slept until we went to work at the church, then was good for a little while before getting fussy again -- he was hungry. He stayed awake for a little while then got fussy around 12:30 and cried for about half an hour. He was just not happy. At 1 I decided we should just head home, so I strapped him into his car seat and rocked him a little bit to quiet him down. He ended up falling asleep, so I was able to do some more work before heading out.

The older Conner gets, the more difficult it's getting to have him at work with me, and I fear we're going to have to find a sitter sooner rather than later. He's good when he's quiet, but I'm sure callers and visitors don't want to hear a crying baby in the office. Financially, it's going to be a struggle, but it makes sense in every other aspect. Having him go to a sitter would also help me with my Mary Kay business.

Conner is so sweet, and is just such a joy. He's alert to his surroundings and watches people walk past. He turns his head when you talk to him, and lately he's been paying attention to Duke. He's on the verge of laughing -- I know that's just around the corner!

Reaching Out

This week has been a big week with Conner. He's been reaching out more and more, batting things with his hands and even grabbing a few things. Here's a short video of him batting around a toy the other morning. (Sorry about the sound - we're a little new to playing around with video. We'll get better, we promise!!) Conner has also gained a lot more control over his head and he's sitting up better and better every day. His new thrill in life is the "helicopter" as I call it. He loves being up high -- it's no so bad as long as the drool isn't dripping down!

A long day

Today was an especially fussy day for the little man. Not sure why, but he's down for the night now so ... tomorrow's a new day! He slept a lot too, but still found some time for smiles :)

Conner is changing every day -- it's really quite amazing to watch. He wants to sit up so bad, you can see his little shoulders lifting off of whatever he's leaning against. And he's always looking around -- he has, and has always had, a really strong neck, and when I burp him he rarely is laying on my shoulder. When I try to burp him over my knee, he goes stiff and straight across.

He's growing, too. It seems every day we're filtering through his closet to see what still fits and what can be packed away. I'm sure he'll be in the next size diaper soon enough!

Next appointment is March 4 with the pediatrician. Also, it seems to us that his hernia is getting smaller. Lets hope for no surgery!

3 months (and then some)

If I had a nickel for every time I've said time is flying by, then maybe we could pay off some of these bills! Conner turned 3 months old on Tuesday, waking up to a fresh layer of snow that melted away fairly quickly.

In these first three months, Conner has more than doubled his weight and this week he moved on to his 3-6 month size in pants. Christina and I are both surprised at the size difference with pants -- he's once again getting eaten up by his pants, but I know that won't last long.

Conner is setting up well - not quite on his own, but it'll happen pretty soon. He's also beginning to suck his thumb quite a bit. And the smiles are bigger and bigger every day. We have to sneak in the camera though to get the smiley photos - he's easily distracted by it.

The next couple of months are shaping up to be busy. In this short month of February, we'll have visits from family all over as Conner's baptism is mid-month, followed by Christina exiting the 20s. I'm also looking forward to getting Conner used to NASCAR Sundays! ;) In March we'll have a quick trip to Virginia Beach for a double-purpose trip - Christina has a Mary Kay seminar and I am running in the Shamrock Half Marathon for the third straight year.

It's show off time!

As Conner nears 3 months of age, his smiles and attempts to laugh grow more and more each day. It's so much fun to see. As you can see from the photos, he's starting to show off a little bit. He's also getting pretty strong. While he's certainly not sitting up by himself, he's got good control over his head and loves being pulled up.

His doctor's appointment went well the other day. Long story short, we were pretty much told to come back in about a year. While it seems that no one I know has heard of an umbilical hernia, it's quite common and it's generally not serious. So we're keeping our eye on it and not worrying about it. And, to me, it's actually gotten smaller recently.

11 weeks = sleep

At least for Conner and us it does! It seems as soon as he hit the 11-week mark, Conner started sleeping more through the night. Tuesday night he (finally) went down at 9 p.m. (he just didn't want to go to sleep) and was up around 2 a.m. then was up for the day at 7 a.m. Thursday night he went down at 7:30 p.m. (more his normal bedtime) and didn't wake up until 1:45 a.m., then was up for good at 7 a.m. Then again last night he was down between 7:30 and 8 and didn't get up until 3:45 a.m., then was up around 7:15 this morning. Woo-hoo!!

It seems as though Conner's growing in his sleep, too. We're slowly working the 3-6 month clothes into his wardrobe, and he's not yet 3 months old. He's more alert during the day, talking and smiling a lot. There's always something new, it seems!

Conner's first big road trip

We had a quick, cold, but fun trip to Ohio this past weekend. Christina's grandmother turned 90 last week and there was a great turnout for a party for her. Here's a look at some of the pictures of Conner's first visit to frigid Ohio.

The whole family.

Big smiles all weekend.

Bundling up for the single-digit temperatures.

Four generations of family.