Connor has mastered the art of pulling himself up on boxes and small furniture.  This evening, we watched him crawl to our back door and pull himself up into a standing position (both hands on the glass) so he could take a look outside.  This was all done on his own but with Mommy and Daddy supervising very closely!

Since he started crawling a few weeks ago, he has developed a lot more strength in his upper body.  It is truly amazing how fast they can learn!

Walking is on the horizon…

Poor Connor…

Mommy was packing a wedding album in a box to send to a customer and was using clear packing tape. When she would pull off a piece of tape, it would make a loud sound which Connor was not too fond of.

He started to cry and scream. We tried to show him the roll of tape and slowly pulled some more off, but he began to scream and cry again. I finally had to take him upstairs so Mommy could finish packing the box. Even upstairs, he could still hear Mommy pull the tape off the roll and began to cry again.

An update on this…Mommy preparing another package tonight and used the same roll of tape. This time, Connor didn’t seem to be bothered by it too much. He did watch Mommy with a close eye, but showed he is a tough little boy and did not cry this evening.

Today, Mommy sent me a text message telling me that she can feel Connor’s first tooth. I was so excited and emailed Grandma and told a couple of my co-workers. What an exciting day…I couldn’t wait to get home to see my boy and his first tooth. How much would it be out? Was Mommy really feeling a tooth or was this a false alarm? Would he be in pain?

Well, after I got home I washed my hands and started to investigate. My fore finger went into his mouth and I could definitely feel something other than gum. Mommy was right!!!! So, I tried to get him to open up and show my his new pearly white but Connor was not accommodating the request. Finally, I was able to get the tongue out of the way and we got a quick glimpse of his first tooth. It has just broken the gum line.

I’ve highlighted the location with a red box (of the one coming in).

Connor took a road trip up to New Jersey to visit Grandma’s sister and Daddy’s cousins.

A typical road trip up to New Jersey previously consisted of the following… (just for Daddy)

1. golf clubs
2. small overnight bag
3. 6 hours of travel time that consisted of:
   • one quick bathroom break
   • one stop for a quick meal that was eaten on the road
   • windows rolled down and music playing

This is what the latest road trip to New Jersey consisted of:

1. golf clubs
2. medium size overnight bag (Daddy and Mommy) and 2 small overnight bag (Grandma)
3. Connor’s diaper bag with about 25 diapers
4. Connor’s clothing bag
5. Connor’s walker
6. Connor’s stroller
7. Connor’s flotation device (a boat) for the swimming pool
8. camera and video camera to capture Connor’s moments
9. cooler with baby food
10. sunshades in both back passenger windows, windows rolled up, sunroof closed, AC on, and music kept low
11. 15 cans of baby formula
12. 8 hours of travel time that consisted of:
    • 3 bathroom breaks (and diaper changes)
    • one stop at Farm Fresh for apple sauce (for Connor)
    • one assigned seat change (see post below)

You get the idea…things have changed.

Anyways, Connor enjoyed himself and was really interested in everything that goes on up in New Jersey. He got to watch Callie and Jack in the pool and he even got in the pool with Mommy and Daddy. He loved it. We have some video and pictures of it that we will try to post in a day or two, so check back.

So, it was Friday afternoon and the car was all packed…  seating positions were, Daddy in the driver seat, Mommy in the front passenger seat, and Grandma joined Connor in the backseat.

All was a go, or so I thought.  Yes, I was a little nervous about driving 6+ hours up to New Jersey with a 7 month old, but figured I had enough help (Grandma in the backseat and Mommy in the co-pilot seat).

Well, let me back up one second and explain something here.  Connor likes to have his “space”, just like his Daddy and Uncle Danny (and probably like most sane people out there).  You know, he is not the type of baby that wants people in his face as soon as he wakes up.  When he is in his car seat, he likes to have a little room too.  You know that Jerry Seinfeld episode with the “close talker” — no one likes that and Connor is already demonstrating that.

A couple of months ago, we road from Hampton to Newport News with Connor and Uncle Danny in the backseat.   Well, Connor screamed the entire way home.  Uncle Danny was giving his pacifier, shushing him, and trying every other trick there is, even once asking if he could take him out of his car seat.  (Calm down Grandma, I told him no.)

Well, fast forward to this past Friday…

We were no more that 1 mile down the road on our 350 mile trip to NJ and Connor begins to cry.  It wasn’t just a little whimper, it was one of those cries of dislike.  I suggested the Victoria sit in the back with Connor.  So, after a quick stop at Farm Fresh and to get some gas, Victoria and Grandma switched seats.

As we started our journey was again, Grandma and I started to chat about Connor’s unhappiness.  Grandma tried to convince me that Connor might be car sick, something Grandma and I get if we are not facing forward in a moving vehicle.  (Keep in mind Connor faces to the back.)  I think I convinced Grandma that he was not car sick and that he just needs his space.  During this short discussion, Connor was starting to calm down and soon was quiet.

Grandma turns to me and says, “He just didn’t want me in his space.”  I chuckled and thought nothing of it.  So, now we are about 5 miles down the road with 345 miles to go and we hear Connor giggling and laughing with Mommy in the back.  Grandma turns to me and says, “He just didn’t want me back there.”   I laughed it off and smiled, realizing that this was going to be a long trip if Grandma was not happy…

Well, the laughter and smiling continued in the backseat and Grandma was in a sour mood.  WE HADN’T EVEN MADE IT TO THE HAMPTON ROADS BRIDGE TUNNEL, so I knew I was in for a LONG TRIP!

Grandma sat up front and Mommy sat in the back with Connor the entire way up to New Jersey.  Connor was great and Grandma kept her feelings bottled up for most of the ride.  We laughed a few times, but I think Grandma was a little hurt by the experience.

When we returned this morning, Mommy and Grandma decided they would switch seats.  So, Grandma sat in the backseat and gave Connor his space for the first 10 minutes of the trip.  Connor would look at Grandma, but Grandma would not look back (in order to give him his space).  Slowly, they came to a mutual agreement and engaged one another.  Connor began to smile and laugh and had a wonderful time with Grandma.  I am happy to report that Grandma rode all 9 hours back to Hampton in the backseat with Connor.  I think the two of them were able to work out a special arrangement…  THANK GOD!

Alright, 4 votes say the pictures to the right look like Connor and 1 vote says the pictures do not look like Connor. I wonder who voted ‘No’…it couldn’t be Daddy, could it?!!?!?

Anyways here is the best proof yet that Connor it going to take after his handsome father! The video was taken when I was 8 months old (Connor is almost 7 months old).

I’ll regret putting this video online because I am sure one of you will just love my Christmas outfit I am wearing, but what the heck. (I intend to buy one for Connor this year too — what was good enough for Daddy will be good enough for Connor.)

Try and tell me that some of the mannerisms and facial expressions are not similar to what Connor does now. I now think he looks more and more like me. Am I obsessed with this???? Maybe, but remember it is my blog. 😉

Not to mention Connor is doing most of what I was doing in this video a whole month earlier than I did it. That’s my boy, an over-achiever. Or maybe Daddy was just slow… 😉

So I gave it the real test and ran it by Mommy. Victoria starts to laugh and I can tell what she is thinking. Every second longer she watches it she starts to smile more…ahhh, is she cracking??? Does Connor look like Daddy? So I asked her, “Does that look like Connor?” Her response (after a big smile), “I think so.”

What does she mean, “I think so”. The answer is “YES”.

Love you guys!

Connor’s Daddy

Connor loves to show off that he can easily sit up from a crawling position.  We were at Grandpa and Mimi’s house on Sunday (so Connor could show off his new moves).

He started to crawl and then stopped and sat up.  He turned his head to the side to see who was watching, gave a smile, and then dropped back down and started to crawl a couple more feet.  He stopped, sat up, repeated the smile and crawl again.

It is pretty amazing to watch how much he has learned in the past 7-10 days.

He has also learned how to smack his hands on the table or on anything around him.  We think he learned this from a playtime trip he took with Trish and Daniel.  They went to one of those Mommy and baby/toddler get togethers and sang songs and interacted with others.  About a day later, I noticed Connor was banging on anything he could, so I inquired about what they had done at the get-together.  Victoria says during one of the songs they (moms and toddlers) were banging the floor/table in front of them.  Our hunch is he learned this from that session.

Pretty amazing how fast they can learn…

His favorite new toys are his golf clubs.  He can pick them up, hit them on the ground a little bit, and loves to chew on them.

Check out all the postings below.

The crawling video has been added (turn up your sound)…

Also check out his photo gallery, most of the pictures from Saturday night didn’t get posted the first time. They are there now.

Here is Connor and Daddy on the beach at Nags Head.

We rode the ferry down by Cape Hatteras and this is a clip where Connor was “steering the boat”.

This is just a short clip of Connor in his walker. This was one of the few times he was able to “maneuver” it around a corner. Usually it is a straight shot.