This is me and my cousin Brenna:

Mommy’s family visited from Florida this past weekend and here are a couple of pictures Grandpa took:

More to come later…

All of us need a little praise and acknowledgment from time to time.  Whether it is at work, with your partner, or in life.  I have been trying to provide that support/praise to Victoria since Connor has been born.  I’ve been telling her what a wonderful job she has been doing with Connor.  Her and Connor have been very successful at breastfeeding which I think is great for both of them.  They have playtime together during the day and this is helping form a wonderful bond between the two of them.

Well, I provided the praise to Victoria but that kind of leaves me without any praise.  No, this is not going to be a pity party for Daddy but rather a thank you to my wife.  Now, I have heard comments/praise on my parenting skills from others (my mom, Victoria’s parents, my brother, friends, etc…) but none of it really sunk in…

Victoria has told me time and time again that I am a great father and that “Connor loves you”.  But, I guess I really never took the time to listen to her and absorb what she was telling me.  Well, the last couple of times she has done this, I actually just listened and watched her facial expression (and eyes).  Victoria’s eyes and facial expressions tell me a lot about how she is feeling and what she is thinking.  And as I have taken a moment to look and listen, I have been filled with unbelievable amount of pride in my fatherly abilities.

So, this posting is my way of saying “thank you” to my wife for giving birth to our little miracle and “thank you” to my wife for showing me that I am a great father.

is truly amazing!!!! He has sparked such new energy in me that it is truly incredible. I was told that fatherhood would change me and that it would be an immediate transformation.

Honestly, I somewhat doubted that. I mean I figured I was already a sentimental, caring, and loving person and that having a child would not change me too much. Boy was I wrong. The little things really spark more energy and love into my life now. Most of those little things are coming right from Connor these days. His smiles (even if they are still “gas smiles”) are incredible. Tonight was the first time I think he truly interacted with me with a smile. I was changing his diaper (after it had leaked all over me) and has he was laying there, he started to smile. Of course I smiled back and started to talk to him and then the smile got larger. Then he started make faces and smiling more. It was pretty incredible and made me forget I was wearing a pee soaked shirt. 😉

Here are Connor’s stats at 1 month:

8lbs 3oz

19 3/4″  (same as the 2 week checkup, but we believe they measured wrong last time)

The doctor says that Victoria and Connor are doing a great job with the breastfeeding.  He also said we can “let sleeping babies sleep” at night.

Connor slept 6 hours last night and then we woke him to feed him.  (We just can’t let him go too long, plus Victoria can’t go too long or she starts to get engorged a bit.)

My first out of town guests came this past weekend.  Be sure to check out the photo gallery to see my pictures of the visit.  We all went over Grandma’s house in Hampton and had a wonderful time.  I slept most of the time.

Love,
Connor

Daddy, Uncle Danny, and Uncle Buck (Daddy’s cousin from NJ) golfed on Saturday. Daddy won (like he always does).

Uncle Danny had a chat with me on Saturday night while I was over Grandma’s house and he promised to buy me a toy if I kept Daddy up all night Saturday night. I think he wanted me to do that because they were going to be golfing again Sunday morning.

See, Daddy, Uncle Danny, and Uncle Buck are very competitive when it comes to golf (or anything else). I did as Uncle Danny suggested and Saturday night was the worst night Daddy has had since we came home from the hospital. He got about 2.5 hours of sleep Saturday night because I did not want to go to bed.

So Daddy was tired when he played golf Sunday. BUT, from the way Uncle Danny and Uncle Buck left town on Sunday, I think Daddy won at golf again.

I can’t wait until I am old enough to play golf with them. They will be a bunch of old men by then (in their 50’s) and I will be beating them all the time!

Love,

Connor

that Connor looks like Mommy. My family visited from New Jersey this past weekend and first thing my cousin Melissa says to me is that Connor looks like Victoria. I mean, she wasn’t even in the house more than 2 minutes (I don’t think she even had a chance to hold him yet) and she is trying to fill Connor’s head with this propaganda. I politely told her that it was time for her to leave. 😉 Connor stuck up for Daddy by pee’ing on Melissa as she changed his diaper for the first time. (That’s Daddy’s boy!)

While Melissa and Victoria were talking and much to my amazement, I overheard Victoria tell Melissa that Mimi (Victoria’s Mom) told her that Connor looked like Victoria as well. Blindsided by my favorite mother-in-law. Victoria’s look on her face when she realized I overheard the conversation was priceless. You would have thought she sold top secret information to the Soviets or something.

That’s alright — Connor can look like Victoria as much as everyone wishes. One thing he has from me is his demeanor. He is such a wonderful baby and has such an easy going personality that he has to take after his father!!!!! I’ll trade quiet and restful nights for looks any day!

Back to what everyone sees in Connor and why I don’t understand…

I hear the following (my response in bold).

• he has Victoria’s nose.
  • Come on, do you actually believe I was born with this nose? 😉
• he has Victoria’s forehead.
  • Ok, maybe.
• he has Victoria’s feet.
  • See me in about 16 years and tell me if he wears a women’s size 5.5 or a man’s size 12. My bet is he will be closer to the size 12.
• he has Victoria’s legs.
  • See me in about 16 years when he is taller than Mommy and Daddy.
• he has Victoria’s rear-end.
  • I hope not — we want a manly rear-end.
• he has Victoria’s eye structure.
  • As long as he has my eye color (check back in about 5 months).

Here is a sneak peak at one of the shots Mommy took of me tonight.  Others will follow, but Daddy wants it to be a surprise for my grandparents.

Love,

Connor