We took Connor to the Noland Trail today and brought the camera along. Here is one of our favorites pics of Connor just hanging out in a tree.

I think Brenna the Bee was trying to tell Connor “Winnie the Pooh” where the bees keep their honey.

Aidan stopped by for Halloween the other day.  He was dressed as a dinosaur and Connor liked his long tail he had.  He tried to grab it a couple of times.  Aidan is 4 months older than Connor and has mastered walking and is now getting around by running as well.

It is cool watching Connor observe Aidan.  I can only imagine what is going through his mind.

Here are some pictures of the two of them.

I was sitting in the family room with Connor the other day and decided just to watch him for a few minutes.  He soon grabbed his push walker and started walking all over the place.  The laundry basket was full of clothes and it was sitting on the floor near the couch.  He was trying to manuever around the couch and laundry basket with his push walker.

Well, he just couldn’t quite get the walker past the laundry basket so he decided to move the laundry basket.  I watched as he held on to his walker with one hand and moved the laundry basket with the other hand.  He only needed to slide it about 6 inches and was able to easily do this.  Once it was moved, he put his hand back on the push walker and then started on his way again.

This might be pretty typical of any child, but I just found it amazing.   I just sat there and smiled and said, “Good job, Connor.”  He turned his head towards me and just gave me a smile then he was on his way again.

From time to time, Victoria will just sit and admire Connor.  I watch her and see so much pride and love in her for her son.  It is truly amazing.  I know what thinking and then she turns to me and says, “I love him.  I want to have another.”  Whoa, whoa…let’s hold on there proud mommy.

Anyways, back to the story.  We have a canvas print of Connor and I in the swimming pool hanging on our wall in the family room.  Quite often after Connor has been put down to sleep, Victoria will stop in her tracks and just stare at that canvas print for 30 seconds or so.  Then she turns to me and says, “We love Connor”.  I say, “Yes we do.”

It is nice watching Victoria and seeing how proud she is of her son.

Sunday morning (1:30am) I awoke because I heard Connor vomiting in his crib.   It was just a little bit of mucus but this was my first experience (let alone his first experience) of vomit from Connor (other than the normal spit ups).  I put him back to bed but was soon awoken again because he was vomiting for a 2nd time.  This time we had to change the sheets and his clothes.

We decided to bring Connor into bed with us (we put a towel down to protect us and our sheets).  He was fine and soon fell asleep.  I moved him into his pack-n-play that we still have at the foot of our bed so I could keep a close eye (ear) on him.  All was fine the rest of the morning.

If you are eating or have a sensitive stomach, you might not want to read any further…

Connor did not eat too much for breakfast and soon had a severe blow out of diarrhea.  So bad that it took two of us to change him and I took him directly to the bathtub for a bath.

Connor was acting normal and was not running a temperature but just would not eat like normal.  We tried to keep him hydrated (with pedialyte) as best we could.  After a few more diaper changes…the last one started to look better (relatively speaking).  I took him downstairs after the “it is looking better” diaper change and Connor vomited on me and his highchair.  I was kind of holding him in one hand, had vomit on my shirt and shorts, and was holding a handful of vomit in the other hand.  Something told me this was not all he was going to let out so, I quickly made a move for the sink (about 6 feet away).  I made it and that is when Connor went “Exorcist” on me — projectile vomiting into the sink. Poor Connor.

Anyways, I called the doctor and they said since he is not lethargic, is acting pretty normal, does not appear to be dehydrated, and is not running a fever that this will just need to run its course.  We bought him some lactose free formula (soy based) and more pedialyte.  He drank a fair amount of pedialyte this evening and about 2 ounces of the lactose free formula.  He is in bed now and seems to be doing alright.  Hopefully our little man will start to feel better soon.

Grandma stopped by Friday afternoon so she could see Connor in his Halloween outfit (Winnie the Pooh).

Of course Daddy was trying to coerce Connor into taking more steps.  As Connor was playing with Daddy on the floor, he decided to take two steps (very quick steps) in Grandma’s direction…   Yes, he fell down again, but he did left foot and then right foot.  We were all so very proud of him and were clapping and telling Connor what a good job he did.

We went to bed Friday night and I had a dream that Connor was all of a sudden running.  I dreamt that Connor ran from the hallway all the way into our family room (about 15 feet).  He skipped walking and headed straight for running…I guess that is the future Olympic track star coming out in him.  😉

Anyways, Victoria and I think it is a matter of time before he gets the hang of taking those steps.  Connor is still a little unbalanced when standing and still loves to walk (with his push walker) on his tip-toes.  Aunt Jaime (Aidan’s mom) told us to try sneakers/shoes on him and that might help him with the tip-toe standing/walking issue.  So, we might give that a shot too.

Victoria and Connor came up to my office today so we could go to lunch. The gang at the office got to see Connor for the first time in a couple of months.

I was a “proud papa” because Connor decided to put on a little show for everyone.

Show #1:

First thing he did even impressed me! I was squatting down on the floor with Connor with a crowd of about 4-5 people watching us. Connor started to play with my badge that hangs around my neck. Connor had both hands on the badge and was standing on his own. He did this for a good 30-40 seconds which broke all the records he had previously (3-6 seconds of standing on his own). I was so impressed and kept telling everyone that this was the first time he had stood for such a long period of time.
Show #2:

A few minutes later, we moved inside my office so Uncle Tony could get a glimpse of Connor as well. Connor was standing and holding on to my partition wall and then he let go of the wall and stood on his own. He decided he wanted to take a step toward Uncle Tony and Ms. Tammy. He lifted his left foot up and took a step in there direction. That was the first time he actually took a step. Yes, he fell forward as he started to plant that left foot, but that was a beginning.

Of course I called Grandma on our way to lunch to tell her and she said that was officially his first step saying, “that is how most kids take their first step”.

Growing up as kids, my brother and I enjoyed decorating for the holidays (Easter, Halloween, Christmas). So, so continue a traditional from my child we decided to carve our pumpkins with Connor’s help.

You can see we kept him plugged up with his pacifier. This was to prevent him from putting any of the pumpkin shavings in his mouth.

And Mr. Pooh Bear made an early appearance with his newly carved pumpkins.

Enjoy!