Week of adjusting

Well, we've completed our first week of going to the sitter's -- and we both survived! I'm taking Conner to a woman in the next neighborhood over on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

The first day, I dropped him off at Cindy's at 8:45 then went to work. The tears came before we left the house, but I quickly composed myself and the rest of the day went smoothly. I left him at the sitters until 3:30 even though I was done with work a couple of hours earlier, but I'm going to be using that time for Mary Kay. Conner went down easily for his nap and was a good eater for Cindy.

Tuesday was a little different as I don't actually go in to work until noon, but I'm taking him to Cindy's at 9. I felt so guilty knowing that I didn't actually have anywhere I needed to be, just things I needed to do, so it was a little more difficult leaving him. Once I got to Cindy's, though, I realized I had forgotten bottles, so I had to run back to the house. When I got back, they had gone down to the neighbor's house. She also watches kids, so Conner was watching the boys play. Made me feel a little better about leaving him!

Wednesdays Conner spends time with Aunt Heather and cousin Eliza while I have a business meeting. On Thursday, Conner woke up at 5 a.m., so we brought him in with us... then we all slept in and were rushing around. I felt like I was rushing all day. When I got to Cindy's at 1:15, Conner was asleep. We needed to get home because we were keeping Eliza for a little while, so I had to wake him up. You know the phrase, never wake a sleeping baby? It's true. Conner needed that nap.

So this morning, Cindy said on my short days if I wanted to call and Conner was sleeping I could just leave him there and she'd call when he woke up. Today I called at 1 and he was awake since he had taken a nap earlier in the day, so I picked him up at 1:30... and he promptly fell asleep in my arms :)

Today's emotions were a close runner-up to Tuesday's ... Conner was awake when I dropped him off, and he was so cute and smiley... it just broke my heart. But I just keep telling him (and me) that this is only temporary -- when I become a director, I'll be able to work solely with Mary Kay and will be able to afford to have someone come in to watch Conner while I work from home. Those days can't come soon enough.

Good report

A quick update: Yesterday was Conner's 4-month check-up. He weighed in at 15 lbs. and is 25-1/2 inches long. Dr. G. thinks Conner will keep his blue eyes and once his hair comes in it will be blond. Also, his hernia is correcting itself -- Dr. G. said she thinks the opening is getting smaller. Woo-hoo!

Conner is quickly growing through his wardrobe, and with the cold snap we realized how few long-sleeved shirts he has in his size. Dr. G. said we can start Conner on cereal anytime now, but she said it's best to wait. He's satisfied with what he's getting, so he really doesn't need anything else right now, though he has been watching us eat.

Conner's next appointment is in two months (May) -- he'll be 6 months old!!!

Snow Day!

The biggest snow storm in more than a decade around here is also Conner's first big Virginia snow. We got 10 inches here at our house last night and this morning -- it's the kind of snow that sticks to everything. We both got the day off and let Conner experience the snow for about 10 minutes. He seemed a little out of it, but I think that was mainly due to the cold.

We don't expect the snow to stick around too long. We'll have a couple of cold days before seeing a quick warm-up to temperatures near 70 this weekend. So we certainly enjoyed ourselves today since this is such a rare event around here! I think we're all ready though for spring to get here and stay here.

In addition to these photos, click here for shots I put up on my photo blog from the past couple of days. I also captured some on my running blog while on a short run this morning.

As March rolls in ...

Mommy gets creative, but all there is to see is a little nose!

Shortly after the "shocking" photo (see the post below).

Bundled up and ready to go!

Loving the Camera

I thought I'd share a couple of recent (and amusing) photos of Conner. If you'd like to check out last week's baptism photos, click here (or copy and paste this into your browser: http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss324/hyltons2004/Baptism%20Weekend/) There are some repeats on there that were posted twice accidentally, but for the most part it's all group shots with the families.
If you want to see how he's growing, click here to check out a photo similar to the one above from late November.

Update

So, his sleeping through the night didn't last very long... just that one night, in fact. The past two nights Conner was up around 2:30 a.m. But we have hope now! (Not that we didn't before, but now, it seems the "end" is in sight.)

After his crying spell Thursday, it made us wonder how he's feeling. There's a chance he could be teething... though it seems so early, first teeth can come at 4 months. His little cheeks have been red, which a friend said is a sign, and he's been drooling a lot. He also seems to enjoy "chewing" on my finger. Is this a sign of teeth to come?! We'll keep you updated!

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!