Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
What a bad mommy! I haven't updated my little one's
journal in a long time!
Connor turned four years
old on September 4th. He's still my wild man, but
at least now he does clean up his mess...
or, rather, he cleans 
up "some" of his
mess if I am really, really insistent about it!!! I use positive
reinforcement a lot, I praise him so much when he does good things that
now he does a lot of good things because he knows mamma is going to be
thanking him and giving him a hug and a kiss! He loves his blankets and
takes them around everywhere. He reminds me of Linus but with many
blankets, not just one! He's way over the 'getting naked' thing, but
he's very insistent on what kind of clothes he wants to wear. I can't
just put on anything on him like I used to or I used to (and
still do) with Nicky, he has to pick, and if he does not, he will take
it off, go in the drawer and pick something else and gives it to me. I
don't know if it's weird or not, but at least I think it's probably
unusual for a boy to do this... yes? I don't know.
He's
still my little loverboy. He loves to hug
and kiss and he's very quick at apologizing if something happened or
he made a mess.
Connor now weighs 35 lb, he's skinny for
his height but it's not like we're starving him or anything!
Sometimes he woofs down 3 bowls of cereal just for breakfast!! He's just
on the go all the time. He loves cheese and crackers and macaroni and
cheese. NIcky and Connor get along most of the time, but the main
issue comes along when Nicky is 'afraid' that Connor might hurt
him. If Connor does hurt NIcky on occasion, it's
never a big wound and it's usually on accident,
say, he will knick his nose while trying to
give Nicky a hug. Overall he's doing great. No pre-school for
him, I am just not comfortable with the idea because of all the school
issues we had to deal with NIcky. I will teach him myself, thank you! He
can count to 20 and does a lot of other things already. He will start
kindergarten next September... I will be a nervous wreck by then!
mommy @ 10:00 AM
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tuesday, may 1, 2007
Connor is growing like a weed, and is developing an
amazing personality, if I do say so myself! He has his little routines
that he likes, like eating his favorite cereal in the morning, playing
Mario Kart (and he's getting
good at it!) and other funny quircky things... for
example, why use a towel to clean his
hands when he can clean them... in his
hair? He's just too funny about that, LOL.
He's very caring about his big brother,
if he has an owie or Nicky cries he immediately goes ever and asks him
if he's okay, what's the matter and other really
caring things. He's also Nicky's little messanger... if Nicky
needs something, he will tell Connor to tell
me!! He's also very strong-he opens all the
doors, pushes things, it's actually a bit scary.
While he has his favorite foods and
he's not eating as much as I'd like him to, he does drink whole milk all
day long. He also likes his apple juice or orange juice. His favorite
foods are chicken nuggets, pasta, bread and cheese, but he will taste
everything, and while he's not very fond of vegetables, he loves
broccoli and beans!!
Sometimes I worry he may be a bit
behind, but his speech is improving, he knows all his colors, counts to
12, and... he knows his way around the computer! Go Connor!!! My little
genius boy!!!
mommy
@ 9:30 AM
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Saturday,
February 10th, 2007
Connor
is most definitely in his troublesome threes, no
doubt! He's all over, throwing everything in
sight, getting naked, making messes of all kinds,
he's driving us insane. I am 42 years old (will be
43 this year) and I look at him sometimes and I
think to myself... I am too old for this!!! During
one single morning he managed to throw a cup of
hot coffee on me, dump some really expensive
product down the drain, got naked several times
and made a lake in the bathroom. I know what
you're thinking, which is what my husband I know
was probably tempted in saying...
'weren't you watching him?'. Well, yes, but this
kid is QUICK. Within 10 minutes he can really make
a disaster. He was good for a couple of days and
then, WHAMMO, he decided to dump my plant all over
the kitchen sink, sugar all over the counter...
and did I mention the coins in the DVD player?
AARGHHH. The thing about Connor is that he's too
cute for words, he says he's "sowwy",
comes over and kisses my leg and I just can't be
mad at him!! On the positive side, he's also
giving me a chance to be proud. He's now
completely potty trained!! He even gets up in the
middle of the night, goes to the bathroom (he
turns on the light-that's how I know!!) and
then... goes back to bed! During our trip to
Florida this past month he only had ONE accident.
Every now and then I wouldn't even ask him, I
would just take him to the bathroom (even in the
plane) and sit him in the toilet and he would go.
The accident happened in the car on our 5.5 drive
back to the airport. All of a sudden he told me
"mamma peee" and so we stopped as soon
as he could but he was all wet. I guess my angel
couldn't hold it anymore!!
He
must be going through a growth spurt, he slept 14
hours three nights in a row just recently!! And
one more thing... he now insists in taking baths
with his big brother! Connor? Taking a bath
sitting down and playing? I never thought I'd see
the day-he used to hate baths!
Connor
now weighs 32.5 lb, he's pretty skinny for his
37in height but it's not like we're starving him
or anything! Sometimes he woofs down 3 bowls of
cereal just for breakfast!!
mommy
@ 10:20 AM
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friday,
october 13, 2006
Connor
is just funny nowadays. Some days I LOVE this age,
some days I can't wait for him to grow out of some
of his quirks. What quirks you may ask? Like...
getting naked for example! He's always getting
naked for some reason. It was okay during the
summer for him to run around naked (although I
would insist on at least the diaper on since he
flatly refuses to have anything to do with he
toilet) but now it's COLD baby (well, not THAT
cold, but still, it isn't 70/80 degrees anymore!),
so he then complains that he's cold. Well, duh. I
counted 13 times 
he
got naked yesterday. I am losing my mind.
Connor weighs about 30 lbs, not sure of his
height, I really need to get the measuring tape
out. He turned 3 years old on September 5th, I
can't believe my little baby is 3! Where does time
go? Since we lost the digital camera during the
move (I am still extremely upset about this, I am
convinced at this point that the 5 mover boys that
helped us move also helped themselves to the
camera... hmmmm) I am now taking pics with the
regular camera, so there are still pics in the
camera that need to be developed. Once I've got
them all, I will scan them and put the pics up on
this site.
The
cutest thing about Connor by far at this point is
how "ruffiano" he is. Ruffiano is an
Italian word that truly does not have an English
translation for it. Basically... when he sees that
I am mad at him for whatever reason, he
IMMEDIATELY comes next to me and kisses me on the
legs, feet, wherever. If he's far he'll throw me a
kiss, or if I am holding him he'll kiss me on the
lips. He knows I completely MELT and can't be mad
at him when he does this. His older brother Nicky
was laughing one day when he saw him do this and I
told him that sadly (for me)... it WORKS!! I am
such a sucker for love it ain't even funny.
Another example of his ruffiano antics is if I,
say am mad at Nicky or something else, he will
come up to me and hug me and tells me to shush and
puts his finger in front of his mouth. This child
is really amazing.
Let's
see... other things that Connor is into nowadays
are video games and the computer. All I have to do
is go to the Nickjr.com website and he clicks
around until he finds the Blue's Clues game or
whatever game he wants to play. He is even able to
start the Paint program all by himself and draw.
Nicky has two Nintendo DS, so I often catch them
sitting together playing two player games. I have
to shake my head and remind myself that this child
is only 3!!! Why can't he use the toiler, despite
the constant badgering him and daddy showing him
etcetera, yet, he's mastered computer games? I
don't get it.
mommy
@ 11:20 PM
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sunday,
july 9th, 2006
Connor
truly fits the description of the 'terrible
twos'!!! If anyone needed a child to show other
parents as an example, he would be IT!! Why do I
say that? Connor is simply into everything. He
will not stand still, he's going-going-going all
day like the energizer bunny. His love of water
had moved 'outside' recently! It's been so hot he
loves to water my strawberries and ... yes,
everything else, with the hose. He still loves
playing with the computer, but now he's moved on
from pbskids.org to nickjr.com, he just loves
Blue's Clues and loves to play with all those
little games on that website. If he does something
wrong I usually count to 3 and then there are
definitely CONSEQUENCES!! Because he knows this,
at 2 he usually tells me 'he's coming' or if he
waits until 3 he reaches over to get a hug. The
little butt-kisser! He really is testing our
limits and all of us have lost it at one point or
another, mommy more than anyone since I am the one
taking care of him more than anyone else. 
He
really loves his daddy! The other day he talked to
him on the phone and he was sooo cute! He was
throwing him kisses and said 'I love you too' and
his daddy just melt!! Connor does that a lot
lately... he will give us kisses on demand and
tells us "i love you too" if we tell him
we love him. I really enjoy teaching him how to
say and do cute things! He knows a lot of Italian
words and he's getting more understandable.
Sometimes Nicky plays the 'translator' role. If we
don't understand what he's trying to tell us we
ask him to 'show us' and he'll take us wherever.
Potty
training you say? I think we're getting close. He
hates to be in a dirty diaper, going through as
many as 10 diapers a day. He still does not like
to sit in his little "toilet", but I can
tell he's getting close to the point of wanting to
go in the 'big' potty at least. I have a friend
and a cousin w/boys that are older than Connor and
both told me that with their boys they were closer
to 4 before they were fully trained. As long as
he's eventually trained I am fine with that. I
will not rush things for him.
We
are, of course, a little worried about our new
house we'll move into next weekend. There will be
no markers, crayons or pens anywhere where he can
reach as to keep our walls and furniture free from
artwork. No food or drink can 'leave' the
kitchen/family room area. Most of the house is
actually tiled and the carpet is dark, so we'll
use a lot of nice rugs to keep the little carpet
that we have in tip-top shape. We'll live in this
house at least until Connor graduates from
high-school, so it will be interesting to see the
steps we'll have to take it to keep it as free
from Connor destroyment as possible!!
mommy
@ 9:38 AM
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monday, april 17, 2006
Connor
is developing a love for water... I just wish he
liked taking a bath! While getting clean is not
one of this favorite things, he loves to pull up a
chair or anything he can climb on next to the sink
and start the water and start playing. If I am in
the same room I let him play for a while, but if I
cannot watch him, I usually stop him. Climbing on
things is his latest trend. He loves reaching
things he cannot by climbing on chairs, toys and
whatever he can push toward the 'goal'. He also simply adores Blue's Clues!
On one of the tapes the kids teach Steve the
'birthday' dance... well, he stands in front of
the TV and does the steps and when they are done
with the dance he will rewind the tape and play it
back... over and over again! He also loves the
computer lately quite a bit. Nicky's computer has
a lot of little games on them and when you open
Explorer it automatically goes to pbskids.org, so
Connor has mastered the mouse and navigating the
site... I keep forgetting he's only 2!! His
favorite games are Teletubbies and
Sesame
Street and he's learning not only to use the
computer by clicking here and there and getting
around (amazing) but of course, he's learning to
count and other things thanks to these programs!
Yesterday
was Easter and Connor had a grand old time looking
for eggs! He put them all in his basket and played
with them all day... and still this AM he's at it.
I will have to take them away soon though, they
are starting to SMELL! Phew! He's so helpful
toward his big brother too! When Nicky wakes up
Connor immediately goes over to the TV, turns it
on for him and hands him the remote control!
I
thought he was ready for potty training and I
tried and tried but he wants absolutely nothing to
do with sitting on the potty. He cries and screams
and basically thinks I am punishing him. I am not
sure what I am going to do... sigh.
One
funny thing that he does is he goes to get a hug
if someone yells at him or tells him 'no'. If I
was the one to say no he will start crying and
will go over to Nicky for a hug (Nicky loves that)
and vice versa! The great thing about Connor is
that he will not hold a grudge in any way, after 5
minutes he's forgotten everything like nothing
ever happened and comes over for a hug and a kiss.
He's one special little kid!
mommy
@ 9:27 AM
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wednesday,
february 15th, 2006
Connor
is looking more and more like a little boy. I gave
him a haircut the other day and he went from
toddler to 'boy' in one big swoop! It was a bit
strange, ha ha. He's still my little pumpkin. He
talks and talks all the time, and we're starting
to understand him more, although on occasion we
ask him to please speak English... or Italian I
guess, something I can understand, LOL! When he's
looking for Nicky, for example, he will go...
"whoo-hooo, Teettee, where you?", or when he's looking for something he
will put his arms up and say "where'd go??". It's so funny when he sees
Nicky when he comes home from school or in the morning, he will go up to
him and say 'Hi Teetee' about a dozen times! Nicky really eats the stuff
up! He loves his little brother to pieces.
He's
becoming a very helpful kid for mommy. A couple of examples I can give,
is when I change his diaper, he will take the dirty diaper and throw it
in the trash, he's even thrown Nicky's dirty diaper in the trash on
occasion, and when I am done filling out Nicky's bag with the Nutren he
will throw all the empty cans in the trash!
He
has a little 'attitude' too, but it's so funny it's hard to be upset
with him about anything!! If he is mad at anyone, he will walk around
with his hands clenched behind him and with a big pout. It's pretty
funny!
I have started potty training him, and he does not
seem interested, but I know he's ready. My goal is
for him to be potty trained by the time we'll go
to camp in late June, which it will be 2 months
before his 3rd birthday, so, we'll see if I am successful.
I've already started getting Greg to take him in
the bathroom with him so he can show him how's
done, LOL. To be honest, I am not up to it, but I
want to do it. I tried for years to get Nicky
potty trained and let's just say I am a bit burned
out. I tried everything with Nicky from the time
he was 2 until he was 7, and I only ended up
cleaning leaking poop off the carpet and couch
more times than I can remember. I know that's an
unusual set of circumstances, but it does
something to your psyche regardless. Then I have
to hear that my cousin already has her kids potty
trained and they are not even 2 years old yet, so
I feel like a failure. My cousin has always been
an over-achiever anyway though. I think it's funny
how my aunts have always compared me to her (since
we look a bit alike) and now that we're in our 40s
they STILL do it! AARGHH! Oh well. Such is life. I
am in the hope that Connor will go easy on mommy
and get trained rather quickly! My psyche NEEDS a
success story!! GO CONNOR GO!!
mommy @ 9:43 AM
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monday, january 2,
2006
Connor is truly developing a personality lately and
his vocabulary is growing! Just in the past couple of days he's added
'cookie', 'pappa' (food in italian), "baby" & "pudding" to his
repertoire! Lately he just loves to draw-he comes and asks for crayons
and paper so he can diddle on paper. He also simply adores Blue's Clues!
I had bought over 20 tapes of the show for Nicky over the years (for
birthdays and Christmas and for no reason) and it's nice that Connor is
getting to watch them too now. He goes, gets a tape, gives it to me, and
then leads me to whatever room he wants me to put it on... 
the computer room
usually or the bedroom. He loves to fall asleep watching Blue's Clues
for his nap. One other thing that he does is if he's dirty he will
either tell me he needs a new diaper, or, like yesterday, he will simply
take it off, put the dirty diaper in the trash, comes and gets me and
leads me to the bedroom where the clean diapers are and then lies down
and waits for me to put a new one on! Too funny. He just hates to be
dirty I guess! I will start potty training him sometime in late spring
and I don't think I will have much of a problem!!
One last thing that he does that I think it's funny
is that... he dances. Not to all music.. just to specific stuff he
hears.. and the moment it comes on he starts dancing! I venture to say,
because of his dancing and his fixation with crayons and drawing that
he's leaning more on the artistic side.
As per food... he will eat just about anything,
which is a good thing. He does love any kind of bread, any kind of
cheese and any kind of pasta, and also loves his veggies!! I gave him a
little soup the other day just to see what he was going to do and he
picked out and ate the carrots and the peas and left the rest,
LOL.
mommy @ 10:32 AM
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monday, november 14th,
2005
Connor is growing and changing and it's funny to
see how his personality is taking shape. He has a lot of energy and
never stops, but when he's tired all of a sudden he may stop and fall
asleep anywhere he might be! For Halloween he was a Teletubby but he
would not wear his head piece. While trick-or-treating he had no idea
what he was collecting, but when he got home he realized it was candy
and he started stealing candy from his big brother's bag! He loves
lollypops most of all, 
but he is very keen to all kinds of
candy!
His latest fad is toothbrushes and flyswatters! He
was taking off his diaper all the time up until a week ago or so, when I
started putting overalls on and one piece suits and tight pants, and now
all of a sudden he does not do it anymore. He will tell me when he wants
his diaper changed though, he hates to be dirty! I hope this means he'll
be easy to toilet train but... we'll see.
As of November 13th he's officially in his toddler
bed! We do not know if he's going to adjust easy or hard, but since he
loves taking naps in his big brother's room watching videos already, I
have a feeling that putting the toddler bed in his brother's room will
go over very well.
mommy @ 8:28 AM
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tuesday, september 20th,
2005
Connor is doing great and he's such a funny loving
kid full of so many little quirks! Lately he loves to walk/dance with
his hands behind his back (A la river dance!) and what he does that
frustrates mommy is that he loves to take off his diaper all the time!
At first he wouldn't if he had pants on, but now even when he has pants
on... he does it anyway. The only way he keeps it on is if we use those
'button at the crotch' shirts or outfits. Then we know the diaper is on
to stay!
He's finally saying a few more words... 'go side'
to go outside, he waves and says bye-bye, he says 'doo' for Scooby-Doo,
Nicky is teetee and I am wawa.
Connor just had a birthday on September
5th! He turned 2 years old. A birthday page for him will be up soon. He
got so many cute presents he played and played the next day like he
never played before. At the latest pediatrician's appointment on
September 19th, he weighed in at 'almost' 25lb, he is 33.3 inches tall
and his head circ. is 50 in. A proportionate kid with a big head,
LOL. His next Dr
Appt is not until next April, the pediatrician wants to make sure he
will talk more by then as he's a little concerned he's not talking more.
I think the problem with Connor is that he's just too busy playing and
running around, and the pediatrician did say that boys sometimes to
speak later, so we're not really worried at this
point.
Connor's new favorite food is macaroni and cheese
& he loves peanut butter! When he finds a jar he goes in the drawer,
gets a spoon and brings them both to me! It's too funny!! Come to think
of it, when he is done finishing eating what's on his plate he usually
grabs the plate and hands it over to me for more! It's really precious.
Connor never had a pacifier and never sucked his thumb, but he does
carry around his juice/milk bottle everywhere he goes!
Connor is a snuggle bug, he loves to hug and be
hugged. He's very keen on physical touch altogether, most likely due to
the fact that he nursed up early August!
He goes to bed about 10pm nowadays and is finally
sleeping in basically all night. Anywhere between 6-8 am he wakes up and
when he's awake... he's awake and mommy needs to get up as well!!
mommy @ 3:52 PM
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thursday, july 28th,
2005
Connor's personality is coming out full force and
we love it because he's such a happy little kid with so many little
quirks! He loves music so he dances at any time and when the music is
over he says 'YEY" and starts clapping! It's so funny to see! He does
the YEY with the clapping at the beginning of his TV shows too! It's
really adorable. He is finally starting to
realize he can
'talk'. While he's been blabbing now for a long time, real words have
been hard to come by. Now though he will say 'teettee' for Nicky and
will repeat some words here and there. I think this is a new discovery
of his and will be talking in no time!! I was told by Nicky and my
husband that he called me 'mamma' but I am yet to hear it!
Connor never stops... he goes and goes all day
long. He loves his little toy 'shopping cart' and takes it around the
house. He puts stuff in it and runs or pushes it... it truly is his
favorite toy by far. Sometimes he fills the cart up, looks at me and
says 'bye bye' and waves with his little hand and it's so funny... I
tell him... 'Bye Bye sweetie, are you going shopping'?
Connor's naps are getting better. He takes a good
2-3 hour nap around 2pm. Mommy loves the break!
Yes, yes yes, Connor still nurses, but just once a
day, at night. Man... I do get a lot of flack for that, but you know
what? I don't care. Since I couldn't nurse Alex and couldn't nurse Nicky
I had made a promise to nurse Connor for 2 years and I am holding on to
that promise. It's only once a day now, and it's in the middle of the
night when he wakes. It's not like he really 'eats' anything anyway,
it's just for comfort. Connor never took the pacifier nor is sucking his
thumb, that's the only thing he's got.
We went
to the Sequoia National Monument recently and poor little angel had
motion sickness and started throwing up!! He was sooo pale! I felt so
bad! I never saw him throw up before (believe it or not) so it was a
surprise for us, we were not expecting it. I guess he takes after mommy,
I had the same problem as a kid!! A big hug though made him all better
as usual! Connor is my little cuddlebug!
mommy @ 8:49 AM
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sunday, april 17th,
2005
I've been so busy lately with so many different
projects that I haven't been able to update this site, I feel so bad! I
promise to do better!! Since I don't really keep a scrapbook per se or
an actual book, once I have more time I plan to print everything I wrote
on this website of his and put it in his scrapbook that I will do. Who
knows when!
Connor is still the same basically,
only even more active if that's possible. Now that the weather is nice
he loves to go outside. 
He even goes outside by himself if the
screen is closed. It's okay, there's nothing dangerous in the backyard,
there is no pool and the dog is chained, he basically takes his toys
outside and plays with his balls and other things. He's still our little
tornado!! No room in the house is safe. We had to move all kinds of
things into the garage, like our CD and DVD collections because they
were on his reach and lock doors, drawers and cabinets of all sort.
Since January he's been stacking up things every chance he gets and
another thing he will do is wave bye-bye, but only if it suits his
fancy! We went on a little cruise to Mexico in February and every time
we went into an elevator, Mr. socialite had to wave at everyone! It was
so funny!!!
He is doing well, at his last Drs appt (the 18
month one in mid March) he weighed 23b and was 32 inches long. He is in
the 15% for weight, 25% for height, and his height circumference is in
the 75%. Big head, skinny guy, ha ha.
Connor
loves cars and balls more than anything. He also loves toys that make
noise. He still has a love affair with spoons, and he will reach up to
the silverware drawer and reach in for one! The kid is truly into
everything.
He's basically done with baby food, and he has been
for quite sometime now, so I basically feed him what I eat... it could
be pasta, bread, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, chicken, fish, green
beans (he loves them!!), cheese, crackers and the like. He does like the
sweet stuff, which if I do give him, I ONLY do so at the end of the meal
(such as applesauce). He loves to feed himself all kinds of finger
foods, such as Goldfish, Cheerios, Crackers and Cookies.
Connor still loves to nurse, but I am nursing him
less and less in the hope to wean him by the time he's 2. I usually
offer offer him the sippy cup with regular whole milk or, on occasion
100% juice of some sort, and he seems to like that most of the
time.
Connor is very vocal, he babbles all day long. He's
said 'mama' before, but I am unsure if it was just babbling or he meant
to call me or something! He loves to say 3,2,1, and then throw
something!
mommy @ 10:37 AM
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wednesday, february 2nd,
2005
One thing that is hilarious that Connor does a lot
nowadays is walk around with spoons! He loves spoons! A good day for
Connor is to walk around with one spoon on each hand! Another thing we
have to watch for is pens, pencils, markers and any writing utensil. If
he finds one laying around, there WILL be art on the walls!! One
particular wall is suffering brutally from this and will need to be
repainted soon.. we're not in a rush, we want him to 'grow out' of this phase or and when we do it we
might resort on putting some paper or cardboard on the side of the walls
so IF he finds a pen at least the walls will be safe!! Ha Ha.
Seems like he's doing much better in the 'weight'
department. While I really don't care to see him chubby, to me he was
just too skinny, so I started giving him pediasure on the days
where he does not eat enough in my book and I can see a little tummy
now!! Whoo-hoo!! Surely all the teething that he's been doing lately are
to account for his lack interest in food on some days, he's almost 17
months old now and has 12 teeth!! Good gosh... is steak next??
LOL.
Let's see... what else... Connor is a
very loving boy for the most part, just the other day I was holding him
and he went for his big brother Nicky with open arms and hugged him and
put his little head on his shoulder! It was a Kodak moment... too bad I
had to hold the baby for Nicky (Connor is too heavy for Nicky to hold)
and could not get a camera, otherwise I would surely have a picture of
that!!
mommy @ 3:28 PM
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wednesday, january 5th,
2005
Connor is so mild in the mornings it seems like
he's a different child. He will sit content in his box and lets me do my
work on the computer. Truth be told, if I didn't have my computer I
would go insane. He will stay in his box, which is filled with toys and
a few cookies for good measure of a couple of hours or even more. I
usually don't pick him up unless he's complaining! LOL. 
Overall he's doing okay. I call him my
tornado toddler because he just must make a mess everywhere he
goes!
He has started to eat a little
better, he will still only eat finger foods, so I usually give him what
I eat... which is varied, from pasta to rice to even pieces of hot dogs.
Usually for lunch I warm up some chicken nuggets for him and he just
loves it! I can definitely see he's regained a bit of that weight that
he had lost when he went on his "let's spit up everything mom puts in my
mouth" spree, so I am very pleased about that.
We cut his hair recently and he looks so much older
all of a sudden and so adorable!! Some of the pics we took with his new
haircut are in the recent picture page or will be soon.
Connor is still nursing a bit... I know, I know...
I was told I *must* stop! Well, I can't just go cold turkey and I am not
in any rush at this point. He's slowly on less and less and that is fine
by me. The pediatrician didn't seem concerned either. I relish at the
fact that this child hasn't had a bottle since he was one week old! He
now really likes to drink whole milk out of a sippy cup.
Other than that, everything is good! He is 16
months old officially today, and he's adorable... we love him to
pieces...
mommy @ 9:43 AM
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monday, december 13th,
2004
Connor's name of the game nowadays is walking,
walking, walking! He walks everywhere and the only time he ever crawls
if he has a car that he wants to push with one hand. He also loves to
put toys inside buckets, and, unfortunately, things in the toilet and
everywhere! We have to keep the bathroom closed so that we don't have
little accidents (like we just had) of toys and things clogging the
toilet.
He is doing well, at his last Drs
appt (the 15 month one in mid December) he
weighed 21b
and was 30 inches long. He is in the 15% for weight, 25% for height, and
his height circumference is in the 75%. Big head, skinny guy, ha ha. He
moves, moves, moved all the time, we call him our busy body, and does
not sleep much, which I believe does account for his weight being on the
lower side. Still... we're not worried about that. His next Dr Appt is
in mid-March.
He's into everything. He opens
drawers and doors of cabinets and takes everything out!! We had to latch
everything so he could not open them. We have also found things that
belong into one room all the way across the house! Anytime he walks
around... which is always... he has to carry around stuff, whether is a
toy, a shoe or a spoon, he has to carry something, LOL~!
He wants nothing to do with baby food, so I
basically feed him what I eat... it could be pasta, bread, mashed
potatoes, chicken nuggets, cheese, crackers and the like. He does like
the sweet stuff, which I ONLY give him at the end of the meal (such as
applesauce). He loves to feed himself all kinds of finger foods, such as
Goldfish, Cheerios, Crackers and Cookies.
Connor still loves to nurse, but I started to nurse
him less and less. He was biting me at one point, but he stopped that,
thank God! He just loves it so much I think I might still nurse him for
a while, just less and less I suppose. I've started to offer him the
sippy cup with regular whole milk and he seems to like that most of the
time.
mommy @ 3:28 PM
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thursday, november 18th,
2004
Connor is walking so well now I sit in awe at him.
He hardly ever crawls anymore! He's so funny... he figured out that if
he walks he can carry stuff with both hands, so we see him coming with
usually a ball or any kind of toy in one hand and whatever other toy or
ball he has in the other hand... it's in his mouth! Yes, he can
accomplish so much with walking, my multi-task boy!!
Finally he's sleeping a lot better than
he has been... sleeping a good 6-7 hours in a row. I imagine things can
only get better from this point. I am still concerned about his eating
habits though. He will not have anything to do with baby food, he has to
have things to chew on, as his molars are still coming through. So... I
cut him up pieces of chicken nuggets to chew on, cheese, bread, even
different kinds of meats. Usually I give him pieces of anything that I
eat, and he loves tortellini, he even chewed on pieces of steak and some
Chinese food! He loves crackers of any kind and animal cookies too.
Other things he will eat are yogurt and apple sauce, but that's really
about it. I give him his sippy cup with milk in it, or juice
or even water which he loves. He still nurses for the time being, but
much less than he used to... well... if he had it his way he would still
nurse a lot BUT he's starting to bite me now and he hurt me so bad my
nipple is SO SORE it hurts a LOT to nurse him now so I am trying to wean
him. I still nurse him several times a day, but it will be less and less
as time goes on. My plan is to have him completely weaned by 18 months,
and sooner if possible, so... we'll see...
You
can definitely tell, walking into our house, that a toddler lives
here... seems like I am constantly picking up toys from the floor, or
stepping on things that should not be there... cabinets are open all of
a sudden with all the stuff taken out, and things that belong in one
room are across the house. Despite it all, Connor is so precious and
perfect, we just adore him!
mommy @ 9:27 AM
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thursday, november 4th,
2004
Connor is walking!!! While he has been taking a
step or two (no more than that) for a couple of months, it was only
since October 29th (yes, almost a week now) that he started truly
"practicing"! It's so funny too... he will pull himself up at some point
somewhere and walk a few steps, practicing turns and what not... over
and over and over again. As soon as he falls he goes back to the
starting place and starts over. It's so funny! In just a week he went
from doing 4-5 steps at most 
to walk little distances, maybe 8-10
steps or so. One can tell he's not really stable, but he sure is trying!
WAY TO GO CONNOR!!!
While he's doing that,
he's still teething up a storm. If I don't give him the Tylenol he just
wakes up constantly during the night. This means that I cannot give him
any real baby food still... the only mushy stuff he eats is the sweet
stuff, such as apple sauce and yogurt. For the rest he eats anything
that he can chew... such as chicken nuggets, cheese, crackers, bread,
pieces of hot dogs and anything else we can find that he can chew. I
would love for him to eat pasta (since I make that a lot... I am Italian
after all!) but he does not seem interested. I am very pleased he likes
my Italian bread and loves cheese though!
Other
than that things are as usual. He still likes to make the biggest
messes you've ever seen by opening anything within his reach and getting
everything out.
Connor is 14 months TODAY
and loves to play with Nicky. Nicky just loves him to pieces. He
constantly tells him how much he loves him and wants a hug from him any
chance he gets. Nicky makes Connor chase after him and he laughs and
laughs at the cute things Connor does. Just recently I had taken a
picture of Connor with his butt sticking out while he was running away
from me when I was trying to change his diaper, and when Nicky saw that
picture of him he laughed and laughed and giggled for half an hour! Yes,
it's a funny picture, but not THAT funny! LOL. It just goes to show how
much love Nicky has in his heart for his little brother....
awww.
mommy @ 2:28 PM
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friday, october 15th,
2004
Connor is just getting cuter and cuter. Is also
getting into everything more and more... but who could be mad at him
with his cute little face staring at you and his little giggles? Ha Ha.
He loves to open drawers and take everything out, and open cabinets and
get everything out... even playing with the toilet paper is major
entertainment for the little one!! Anything within his range, really, is
kaput. This includes my purse, books and he even messes with the TV
controls and videogame controls when his big brother Nicky is playing!
He is a major terror... but a cute and oh... so cute terror!!!
He is showing us just how smart he is
by pushing the tape into the VCR and immediately sitting down to wait
for the show to start... too funny! How old is he again? When I put
Nicky to bed I usually turn the TV on and put the video on so he saw me
do it countless times... Nicky likes to go to sleep watching TV.. it
distracts him from itching himself raw... a good thing I say.
Connor isn't walking yet, but he is getting better
with his balance. He did take a few steps on his own a couple of weeks
ago, and usually can take several steps when mommy helps him with one
hand. He usually just lunches forward... he's too eager to get where he
wants to go!! Because of this his knees and the top of his feet are
always black!
Connor is still teething
like crazy... meaning sleep is not something he can do well... sigh.
Hopefully soon? His eating habits are getting better though and can eat
a lot more foods. He does prefer to share whatever mommy has on the
plate... even things like rice or cereal than regular baby food. He
loves yogurt though.
mommy @ 4:37 PM
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monday, september 20th,
2004
Connor is growing like a weed! At his latest Drs
appointment (the 12 month one in early September) he weighed 19b 10oz
and was 28.5 inches long. He is in the 25% for both
weight and height, which worried mommy since he was in the 50% at his 6
month appt and then 40% at his 9th, but the pediatrician stated that
it's just fine. He said that babies grow to be pretty chubby by the
time they are 6 months old and then they lean out, especially when they
start crawling (which Connor started at 7.5 months) and that this is
normal.
His infantile eczema is all but
gone. He still itches a little bit, but no more wounds or red cheeks!
YEY!!
He's still not walking, but he surely is
crawling at fast speeds!! He's into everything. He opens drawers and
doors of cabinets and takes everything out!! He can stand up for a few
seconds but he's afraid to take steps at this time. It's okay, I have no
rush to see him walking around at this point!
He has three meals a day of solid foods, at
breakfast he basically eats cookies and finger foods, at lunch he will
eat state 2 or stage 3 foods. Yes, he started eating stage 3 foods
recently, but not a whole lot! He does have his preference and likes to
eat table food rather than the jarred stuff. I am still quite persistent
and offer it first, but he does end up eating a lot of what's in my
plate. I don't have a problem with that, I just have A LOT of baby food
left in the cupboard that I want him to eat, ha ha. I just don't want it
to go to waste. Connor still loves to nurse, and I will nurse him
for as long as he wants, but most likely not beyond 18/24 months... that
is the plan anyway. At this point I am still enjoying it too much to
give it up myself!! I just hope I don't become one of those moms that
their kid is 3 or 4 and still wants the boobie!! Ugh!
Connor had a birthday on the 5th and we couldn't be
more proud of him! He's getting cuter by the day. Click here
to see his birthday pics!!
mommy @ 2:01 PM
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monday, august 9,
2004
I can't believe I haven't updated Connor's journal
in two months?!! I've been busy I guess. Going to camp and my class
reunion was fun but when I get back I am a week behind on all my other
work and it takes me a while to catch up with everything and get back
into my routine.
Connor is doing just
fine! He can now stand up on his own for a few seconds! He'll be walking
in no time!! Aside that he now eats a larger variety of foods. He likes
to taste mommy's foods and eat his meat sticks, pieces of bananas and
the like. He still does not care a whole lot for stage 3 foods, and my
guess is that he'll basically skip that stage! He even ate a piece of
pasta the other day, it was so funny! Connor is not a piggy, he will not
eat a whole lot, just enough, he is lean but well rounded in the right
places. He will have an appt around his 1st birthday so I can find out
how he's growing.
He's a very clingy
little boy, if he had it his way he would want mommy to hold him 24/7. I
don't remember Nicky ever being like that, but maybe he was? Connor is
still nursed so maybe that accounts for the closeness. He also has 7
teeth and my guess is more are coming soon. All of this teething has
created havoc in his sleeping unfortunately. This little one that used
to sleep so well at 5/6 months old still is not sleeping as well as he
used to due to the constant teething. Oh well, it will subside for
sure.
Connor really enjoyed visiting new places
and during our trips he did very well! He loves the car and sleeps in
his seat most of the time. He also liked exploring new homes! My aunt
took a true liking to him because he reminds him of her son (my cousin)
children, which are also blonde, blue eyed round faced babies! Connor
and his 2nd cousin Billy the 3rd look more alike than he does with his
first cousin Maurizio! Too funny. I think it's interesting to see the
resemblance on one branch of the family tree versus another one. Connor
looks like his mommy's family no doubt, at least from the nose up. His
mouth is definitely after his daddy's side and his little body looks to
me like a miniature version of his daddy's!!
mommy @ 4:48 PM
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thursday, june 3,
2004
Connor is growing up so fast it's unreal. At the
end of May I took him to the pediatrician and he now weighs 17lb 6oz and
he is 27 inches long. He hasn't done a heck of a lot of growing since
March but he's still in the 40th percentile, which is fine. Since March
he's been teething and from about late April on that has made a huge
impact on his food intake, and sleeping... sigh. Oh well. He is cutting
his fourth tooth, on the top, after that comes through he will have four
teeth, two on the bottom and two on the top. Hopefully that will be it
for a while so he can learn to sleep again!
He
now can pull himself up to a standing position holding on to a couch,
coffee table and such, whatever he can grab! He's very strong and can
accidentally slap me so hard it hurts! He is also funny, he has his
little quirks which are amazing, he's already showing quite a
personality! He has also started self feeding himself cheerios! He just
loves them. I put a handful in front of him and he's as happy as a clam,
eating away like he's been eating them for years!
He is crawling everywhere so we bought him a
playpen, not that he stays in there too happy for too long, but at least
we know he's safe there. We pretty much baby-proofed the house but you
never know what he can get into!! Better safe than sorry for
sure!
mommy @ 10:19 PM
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thursday, may 13,
2004
Connor amazes me every day. I used to compare a lot
of things of Nicky to his development, but it's clear to me that he's
reached the level where now he's doing things that Nicky could never do,
and as wonderful that is to me, it's also bittersweet. As per the last
entry, Connor was doing pushups but could not pull himself to a sitting
position from his tummy. Well, within a week of him mastering that, he
started crawling on May 1st!! At first he was a little tentative, but
now he's a little train, choo-choo he goes everywhere!! It is so cute to
see that butt go go go! He also decided that standing still for diaper
changes is a no-way proposition, so that's been hard to do.
I also started feeding him 3 times a day. At around
9:30 AM or so he gets breakfast, which is baby cereal and a few
cheerios, lunch is around 12:30-1pm or so (while my soap is on!) and
it's usually a jar of veggies, and then at around 7:30-8pm he gets
dinner, which is a jar of a combo meat/veggies and a jar of fruit. He
vastly prefers fruit over anything, but I want him to get used to eating
good food too. Other than that he's nursed on demand.
mommy @ 9:39 AM
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wednesday, april 21,
2004
Connor's been growing so much in the past month!
While he eats like a little piglet (at the boobie--he always wants the
boobie) he's far from being too chubby, he's just right. He does eat
'regular' baby food, right now once or twice a day, in the next month or
so I will increase it to three times a day.
He still
has breakouts if I give him certain foods, but a little of that cream
and it all goes away.
He is so strong he's now
doing pushups! Yes, it's so funny to see! He sits very well and it's
only a matter of time until he crawls, my guess is just a few weeks if
that. He also squirms so much during the bath that I had to retire the
little bath that I used to put in the sink and basically put Connor IN
the sink!
He blabs and blabs and smiles at
everyone, especially women, he is a little afraid of men, but of course
not his daddy! :-)
mommy @ 12:00 PM
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monday, march 15,
2004
Connor had the 6th month appointment today and it
went really good. He now weighs 16lb 8oz (around the 40-45ish
percentile) and he is 26.5in long (50% percentile). The pediatrician
seems to think that what's going on with him is 'infantile eczema' and
put a cream on his cheeks that is for eczema and told me to put it on
twice a day and also gave him some antibiotics for the wound that seems
to be always open, "just in case". He wants to see him next week to see
if he's improved or what. The good thing is that I have read on all 
books that Infantile
Eczema (if that is indeed what he has) is something temporary that he
will outgrow. Eczema can also be controlled with creams and such (wish
EB was!), and he told me not to give Connor any 'red' vegetables (like
Carrots-I guess many people are allergic to them, thankfully Nicky as a
baby was not...can you imagine this paired with EB? Ugh!) but plenty of
green vegetables, meats etc, including some stage 2 foods. They gave him
two shots that made him scream and got him all upset, at which I
promptly 'boobified' (LOL) and that calmed him and put him right to
sleep! What a sweetie!
So... I feel better about
this whole thing, that's for sure. Pheww! I think his weight is just
great, not too fat, not too skinny, although he does seem rather 'plump'
to me, but he's got that cutest smile! I checked out how big Nicky was
at his age (since Nicky was still a fairly normal kid until about 9
months or so-that's when his problems started that effected his growth)
and Nicky at the same age (6 months) was 15lb and 27in. Connor is
consistently heavier than Nicky was, but shorter, ha ha. Well, that is
easily explained. Nicky's dad is a big man at 6ft, while Connor's daddy
is only 5'9". Both of my kidos though stay steady at 75% percentile for
head circ. big heads!!! I will have the new pictures by this weekend! I
can't wait :-)
mommy @ 3:15 PM
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thursday, march 11,
2004
That 'weird patch' I was talking about in my last
entry grew into a full blown allergy reaction on my little pumpkin... I
was so worried! Both checks were bright red and he started getting spots
all over his neck and chest and I was beside myself. After reading all
the books at my disposition I understood that it was an allergic
reaction to something I was fee
ding him, and the book
suggested going back to strictly nursing for a week and slowly
re-introducing food, once kind of food at a time. The book was
right-after almost a week of only nursing the redness has subsided quite
a bit and he's healing. I will re-introduce cereal today and will
only feed him that for the next week or so, then I will re-introduce one
kind of veggie or meats, one at a time. I must say, this was really
worrying me because the books I read stated that it could be the onset
of infantile eczema, or other skin disorders and I thought to myself...
give me a break! I already have a son with a skin disorder, a horrible
at that, and I want my healthy baby to be healthy!!! I guess I am just a
tad protective, LOL.
Aside that, nothing new to
report, he is sitting better and better all the time, sleeping is the
same, he can be so very good at times and then on some days he tires
himself too much but then refuses to take a nap which translates into
one cranky kid! Nicky used to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere, so
this refusal to nap to me is a new one! I think I am going to start
having a scheduled nap time and stick on that.
The blinky on the right is a new passion of mine, I
'borrowed' blinkies made by others but now I am learning to make my own
and it's so much fun! It's so time consuming though, I am assuming I
will only make one or two a month! LOL
On
another note, the weather here changed overnight. It went from being
COLD to being HOT and it was good timing too! Connor was slowly growing
out of all his long sleeves/long pants onesies and I had a bunch of
little onesies shirts that I thought he was never going to wear! Well,
he's wearing them now and he looks sooo cute in them! Love to see those
fat legs and cute toes flipping around without worrying of him
blistering himself!
I LOVE MY
BABY!!!
mommy @ 10:11 AM
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saturday, february 28,
2004
I am surprised that it took almost 3 weeks for me
to update everyone on my little bundle. He is doing well! I can tell
he's gained a LOT of weight because he's growing out of everything!
Thankfully if there is one thing I can't seem to run out is clothes...
between the clothes we got from family and friends when he was born, I
had saved a ton of clothes from when Nicky was little, so no problem. As
he grows out of them if they look good I sell them on eBay or I give
them to the Salvation Army.
He's sitting quite
good now! It's so amazing to see him do that! I took a lot of pictures
and will post them in a few weeks.
Speaking of pictures, I took my boys to Wal Mart to take pictures
yesterday and they will be ready in 3 weeks, so I am just waiting until
then to update the photo portion of this website. I've decided to take
Connor to JCPenney for pictures when he will turn one years old and
we'll take tons of pictures then. That's when I will also change the
graphics of this website from this 'newborn' set to something more
appropriate for a one year old, but that's months away, so I am not
worried about it.
Nicky as usual is just
so in love with Connor is truly quite amazing. He loves to play with him
and Connor smiles at him all the time. Connor is such a smiler!! He
loves to smile and laugh.
His eating habits are
still not very structured, but as he's approaching his 6th month
appointment in mid-March I will start feeding him stage 2 baby food and
at that point I will start more regular feedings. At this point he's
mostly breastfed, and breastfed on demand at that, so no real structure
there, and he's eating stage 1 baby food, on some days none, on some as
many as 3 jars of different things. He does prefer the more sweet stuff,
but he's eaten carrots and other veggies with gusto too. He's not a fan
of cereal at all, I am thinking of crushing a baby cookie in there for
taste, will get those today.
Sleeping is
about the same for the time being... he goes to sleep in his bassinet
around 10:30-11:30pm, wakes up usually around 4:30 or so, he nurses,
then sleeps another 2 hour stretch, nurses again, then another hour,
maybe, and then he's awake. He's fastly (is this a word?) growing too
big for the bassinet, so I am in the hope that Greg will put together
the beautiful crib we bought in the next month or so! It's going to be a
lot of work because we'll have to put it in Nicky's room, so we'll have
to completely re-arrange Nicky's room to accommodate the crib. I kind of
let his room become a real mess because I know how much work I will have
to put into it soon! Nicky does not seem to care, LOL.
The only area of concern at this point is this
weird patch on his cheek. It's just weird... it's rough, he scratches it
and makes it bleed, I put all kinds of creams, potions and lotions and
ointments and nothing. I hate to complain about it because compared to
Nicky it's NOTHING, but it's just bugging me. Hmmmm...
mommy @ 11:59 AM
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monday, february 9,
2004
My little bugger amazes me every day. He's just so
active and strong! My biggest cause of concern this past week was his
sleeping... it was just getting worse. While on some nights he could
'go' 4 hours in a row, on many occasions it was more like 2 or 3 at
most. And then, magically, he improved. He did 2 nights of a good 4 hour
stretch, followed by a 2 hour and then 1 hour, and then last night... 6
hours! Whoo-hoo! I am thrilled beyond belief. This means that he
basically thought himself 
how to
sleep, since I never really let him cry. Good thing too because I am
stressed lately because of Nicky, and the thought of just letting Connor
cry and cry was not sitting well with me.
Other than that, he's starting to sit on his own!
He does fall forward or backwards eventually, but overall he can stay
sit for a little while, which is amazing, considering that other things,
such as flipping, were not his strong suit. But I think I know why he
does not care for flipping.. he's just a little fatso! He's got chunky
legs and he's just getting so big! He's strong but I guess not strong
enough to pull himself around. Plus, he's never been a fan of tummy time
anyway!
He now eats solid foods twice a day,
usually when I eat I feed him at the same time. This helps me not only
to actually eat myself, but it helps develop proper feeding times. He
still nurses, and nurses a lot. Connor just LOVES nursing! No matter how
much he cries and for what reason he cries, he will always take the
boob.
My little boy is growing up! He is now 5
months old... my, how time flies!
mommy @ 10:33 AM
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monday, february 2,
2004
Well, I
tried to get Connor back on being breastfed only, but his BM did not
change at all, so I got him a variety of new foods, including some
regular rice cereal and he seems to really enjoy them! He is so adorable
I can hardly stand it. In the morning he wakes up all happy and he gives
me the biggest smiles, he's usually in a very good morning until his
late morning nap. It seems as if he can only usually fall asleep while
he nurses and I am not sure at this point if this is something I should
worry about.... but other than that, he is accomplishing everything the
book says he should do, from trying to sit on his own to play with his
feet when he's on his back. When I put him in his exersaucer next to his
big brother he is pretty content and likes to watch his big brother
watch cartoons or play games.
We got a lab pup
this past weekend and he's adorable! I am sure he will become an
important member of our family.
mommy @ 10:09 AM
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friday, january 23,
2004
Okay... so, I started feeding Connor Oatmeal cereal
and a variety of apple sauce, pear, banana and peas/sweet potatoes food,
and while he's doing rather well with them, something happened that I
did not expect... His poop! LOL. Yes, you read right. His poop
went from being a many-times-per-day event to being once-every-three-day
avalanche! Hmmm? At first, I must admit I did not put two and two
together... the books I have state that breastfed babies may not go poop
for a few days, but after talking to other moms with babies the same age
as Connor I realized that while he may be ready mentally to take in
solid foods, physically, his little body is not ready at all. So... now
I stopped the solids and went back to just my milk and we'll see what
happens! I just want to find out if the poop difference is really due to
the solid foods or if things are just going to be this way from now on
even just on breastmilk... hmmm.
Other
than that, he's a very happy baby and one of the places he likes to be
on nowadays is his exersaucer :-) I suppose he likes it because he can't
be bored in there with all the activities. When we first started putting
him in there in early December, he was so small for it he was "floating"
in it, too funny! Now he definitely touches the bottom and moves around
and around quite a bit.
Connor is also the
perennial smiler :-) All we have to do is smile at him and invariably he
WILL smile back! I also was making some funny mouth noises to him
yesterday at the store so he would stop complaining, and not only it
worked, now he's the one making 'pernacchie'! Yes, pernacchie is an
Italian word, it basically means he sticks his tongue out and makes
bubbly noises, it's soooo cute!!!
mommy @ 3:17 PM
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friday, january 9,
2004
Well, Connor had his 4 month baby checkup
yesterday... He now weighs 13lb 8oz... meaning he gained 3lb in two
months! He went from being around the 25% to the 45%! I guess that puts
to rest my wondering if he's getting enough milk from 
breastfeeding! It's hard to tell, so now I know! :-) Height wise he is
now 24.5in, he grew 2.5 inches in 2 months, which also puts him from the
25% to the 45%! Wow! In the head circ. dept, he measures 43 inches,
which is the 75%. Ironically my 7 year old has always measured in the
75%, so I know Connor will be very smart as well! :-)
The Dr said I can start giving him baby food, but I
will start slowly. I've been giving him a little bit of applesauce or
those baby fruits but only a couple of times a week if that... he
manages to eat it very well, so I know he's ready.
The bad news is that they had to give him 4 shots!
My poor baby! Thankfully I was able to nurse him for a few minutes
afterwards and he fell asleep. He's been sleeping it off, but he seems
to be good now, a day later.
mommy @ 2:10 PM
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saturday, december 27,
2003
Things are starting to settle into a routine with
Connor. In the morning he always wakes up in a good mood, smiling and
wanting to play-he's starting to use his hands to touch things, although
it's too early yet for him to pick things up. He usually has a long
stretch of about 5 hours at night, he wakes up, nurses, then he sleeps
for a couple more hours, nurses some more, sleeps another hour or so (it
depends!) and then he's ready to go! He does not like to take naps in
the afternoon, it's like he has no time for them because he's so busy
trying to play and looking around. He's very alert and does not misses a
beat. He just loves when people pay attention to him, and play with him,
he gives the person the biggest smile you've ever saw! He's also very
fond of changing his diaper, and he's very ticklish, he's had the
biggest laughs! So funny! I put a new picture of his big brother holding
him on the picture page, and make sure to click
here to see a little video of daddy feeding him apple sauce on
Christmas Day!
mommy @ 11:50 AM
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saturday, december 13,
2003
Connor is a little over 3 months now (I lost count
of the weeks already!) and he's so cute that he's been mistaken for a
girl already! That used to happen a lot with Nicky, even if I dressed
them in blue! Now that he's filling out nicely he is starting to
resemble Nicky as a baby quite a bit, and people are noticing. At least
a couple of people told me that he either looked like Nicky in a certain
picture, or told me when they saw him: "Oh My Gosh, it's baby Nicky!".
Considering they have a different dad, this is actually quite
remarkable. Of course I can tell the difference, but I am mom, but if
people can see the resemblance it means I must have some strong super
dominant genes, that's for sure! LOL!
As far as
sleeping, nowadays things are a bit different-Connor has no pattern
whatsoever I found out. Sigh. He may go 5 hours one night, and 2 the
next. He will sleep in his bassinet, but after he wakes up he won't fall
asleep unless I either feed him (and I don't want to feed him every 2
hours at night, I want him to learn that night is for sleeping, and I
want him to be able to go at least 5 hours in between feedings) or I am
forced to put him in his swing. At this point I am not sure what I would
do without the swing! When he does finally wake up around 4 or 5am I
then feed him but I fall asleep while he eats, so I am never able to get
him back into the bassinet, I just find him sleeping or waking up next
to me a few hours later. Oh well... I am not complaining, really, just
stating how things are nowadays.
He is
continuing to eat well, he truly is a little piglet! Sometimes he will
empty both boobs and then he's still hungry so I am forced to make a
bottle for him. Thankfully this is not something that happens often,
maybe once or twice a week at most, so I am not worried about it too
much. In about a month I will start him on a little cereal once a day
and we'll see if that satisfies his hunger!|
Other than that, he is a smiler! He's even laughing
now, it's soooo cute! He did it the first time in front of me and his
sister Skylar and we were thrilled! I have some pictures posted on the
Xmas letter, so make sure to go there now! (A new window will open) and
I posted some new pictures on the picture page too...
mommy @ 10:48 AM
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thursday, november 27,
2003
I am continuing to be amazed at my little guy. Last
night he slept 7 hours in a row! I am amazed how easy he is to take care
of every day. He likes to be held a lot, only by mommy nonetheless (and
that is precious) but I can put him down in his 'jungle gym' or his
bouncer, as long as he's close to Nicky while he watches TV or plays his
videogames. Nicky loves to get close to him and give him kisses, they
are so precious together!
Connor can now
hold is head up okay, not perfect yet, but it's getting better every
day. He smiles a lot and coos. I still can't tell if he likes taking a
bath or not... at times he sits there completely happy, others he
screams bloody murder! Hmmm... other than that, he's a happy and healthy
little guy that makes mommy very, very happy :-)
mommy @ 7:25 AM
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saturday, november 8,
2003
Connor is growing well! At the pediatrician's
appointment on Thursday he weighed in at 10lb 8oz and was 22 inches
long! That answers my question if he's getting enough breast milk since
I cannot measure it, LOL. His sleep has improved too... on 'normal' days
that is. He even went 5 hours the other night, and 4 hours the night
before, although last night, since he slept all day yesterday, he did
not go more than 3 and then was awake a lot during the night. Oh well,
he's still so little, I am amazed he's doing so well at all. Other
things he does is smiling at me and he started cooing too.. too cute!!!
I just love him to pieces.
mommy @ 1:57 PM
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monday, november 3,
2003
Connor is a little over 8 weeks old and will be
officially 2 months old in two days. He seems like he's gained a lot of
weight but we'll find out for sure on Thursday when we go for his well
baby check-up. Overall he's doing very good, he's quite a good baby and
is just content to sit in his bouncer with his big brother nearby while
he plays his videogames or watches cartoons. They are so cute together
and Nicky just loves him! These past few days Connor also got to meet
his sister Skylar and Dante who were visiting us for Halloween. Connor
was my little 'SuperMan' :-)
One funny thing
about Connor is how he just does not care about the bottle at all!
Sometimes (maybe once a week if that) we have to give it to him so mommy
can run some errands, grocery shop or whatever and it's like he can't
make heads or tails of it. Pretty funny! These past few days he's also
having a little cold, so that makes it hard to suck on anything if you
cannot breathe thru your nose. Poor little pumpkin!
One thing that hasn't improved at all the past
month or so it's his night sleeping. He will sleep a 3, 3.5 hour stretch
at best at first, then he eats and will go perhaps another 2 hour
stretch, rarely more than that. If I am lucky he will go another 2 hour
after that, but lately he's awake a lot. I wonder if it's because of his
little cold? Who knows. I know he can go 4 hour stretches but he hasn't
done that lately.
On the mommy front, I am
amazed to say that I lost ALL of my pregnancy weight! It must be a
record. Actually I had lost it all by the time Connor was 4 weeks old,
and I have to attribute it to the breastfeeding. There is just no other
reason, since I have not started a diet or anything. I have, just
recently, switched to diet stuff and I know I have lost even more. I
started my pregnancy with Connor a good 10-15lb over my "ideal" weight,
so I can tell that by just reducing the calories in drinks my stomach
has flattened out even more. I am amazed... people cannot believe I lost
it all already, and I am one of these people! Honestly! It took me 2
years to lose the pregnancy weight when I had Nicky (and I gained more
this time!)!
mommy @ 11:05 AM
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friday, october 17,
2003
Connor is 6 weeks old today! His appetite is still
very strong, but more often than not, now he cries because he wants
attention. Many days he will only take one long nap during the day and
most of his sleep is during the night. At night he can go 4 hours
stretches, but he's only done that twice so far, most of the time he'll
sleep one 3 hour stretch, usually the first stretch of the night, then
he'll go a couple of two hours between feedings. At night though he does
not seem to eat a whole lot anymore, or maybe he can eat a lot more
faster? Who knows! Hard to tell. He does nurse so much though that I
don't have any milk to pump so if I have to go somewhere he's stuck with
formula, and hopefully my boobs won't burst while I am gone, LOL.
He's starting to stare at faces and things, but I
am still not sure if he knows that those are his hands he's sucking! It
seems as if they are in the vicinity he'll start sucking on them, not
realizing it's not a boob! Ha Ha. He still nurses just about every
hour...hour and a half during the day, he looks a lot heavier and also
feels heavier. His little bitty onsies are getting a bit tighter, so I
am thinking he probably weighs somewhere around the 9lb range. His Dr.
appointment is in 2 weeks so we'll find out how he's gaining then.
The greatest thing I got this past 2 weeks is a
swing... of course I had to get the fancier swing, which swings like a
cradle and also back and forth, has lights, music and toys hanging.
Connor sleeps longer if he's on the swing than when he's just in his
bassinet, so we do put him in there if he's due for a nap and he's
resisting, the swing totally does the job! We love that thing!
We're still getting cards and gifts from family and
friends and it's so wonderful. I am actually quite amazed. In about a
week I will get to show him off to a support group... I am so excited!
We had very few visitors (and thank God because the house is a mess!) so
I will get to show him off finally!
mommy @ 6:27 PM
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thursday, october 2,
2003
Connor is going to be 4 weeks old tomorrow, and
exactly one month old on Sunday and things are going so well I am just
amazed. Sure... I am tired, and I am more tired than I realized since
the Doctor told me to slow down (health wise I was not doing so hot and
got pretty sick), but overall things are going well.
As of last night, Connor started waking up only
every 3+ hours during the night. This is a great improvement! It used to
be a great thing if he slept 2 hours in a row after he was circumcised,
so I am thrilled. Now his pee-pee has healed, it looks great and he
seems to be very content. Even if he falls asleep in my arms I am able
to transfer him to his bassinet without him waking up, which is
something I could never do with Nicky, and I am in heaven. All of this
means I can get some sort of rest at night, which will help me a lot,
and things are only going to improve. He's awake a lot during the day
and he loves to just look at faces, I hold him up on my lap and he
stares at me and stares at me.. he has the most beautiful eyes... Right
now it looks like they might end up blue like mine, but.. heck, who
knows. He's too young to tell.
He's a
little piglet and eats and eats and eats during the day, I feel like my
boobs are out all day long, LOL! Too funny! Breastfeeding is improving
all the time, I am so glad, it still hurts a bit when he latches on but
overall it's not so bad as it used to be. I am using these shells to
catch the 'spillage' and sometimes I am just amazed when there is a
whole ounce or two of milk sitting in the shell after only a couple of
hours of not checking! I do pump a little bit, just so hubby has some of
my milk to give him if I have to go run an errands and that has worked
well. Hubby is so great with the baby too :-) They look so adorable
together! Connor has been eating and gaining so much weight his face
looks really round and has the cutest little cheeks! He looks very
healthy at this point. At his last check up when he was 10 days old, he
had gained a whole pound since coming home from the hospital, so I know
he's getting enough milk from me.
I've been
trying to get him to take the pacifier but he wants nothing to do with
it. I am still unsure if that is a good or bad thing. I know pacifiers
are to blame for ear infections in children, and most of my friends'
babies had this problem, including my niece and step-daughter (both of
their immune systems are weak now because of all the antibiotics they
took because of all those ear infections, and they get sick easily), so
on one hand I am glad, but on one hand I wish I could put "something" in
his mouth when I know he can't possibly be hungry to quiet him down.
Then again, he LOVES sucking on his hands and that is so cute to see! My
Nicky's hands were in mittens for his first 3 months of life, so seeing
his hands all over the place it's a new thing for me. If I put him over
my shoulder he starts sucking on my shoulder and he leaves me with
bruises! LOL! It doesn't even hurt, so I don't know how that happens.
Overall, I still think he's an amazingly good baby. Sometimes when he
cries he just wants to be held, for someone to pay attention to him.
Many times I put him on the bouncer (with vibration, music and lights)
next to Nicky when he plays his videogames and he's mesmerized by the
TV. If he starts crying Nicky starts bouncing him and he quiets him
down. Nicky is being soooooo good to him! He just loves being a big
brother!
I got so many nice gifts from people I
am humbled. My sister sent me tons of beautiful clothes (she has a baby
boy that is a little over a year older than Connor) from Italy and a lot
of friends sent me things from the registry. My parents sent me a LOT of
money to buy the baby the essentials (crib, bassinet, swing etc) which
was incredibly generous, and Greg's mom hand made an absolutely
beautiful blanket for him. She even sent little bears for each of the
siblings (one for Nicky, one for Skylar and one for Dante) and each bear
has a little tag that says "I am the big ____(sister, brother)". Too
cute!
I took more pictures of the baby and I
need to get them developed.. keep checking the picture page
:-)
mommy @ 3:07 PM
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friday, september 19,
2003
Connor is 2 weeks old today! I honestly feel this
is my little doll baby. It's amazing to me how easy it is to take care
of him after my experience with Nicky. Please don't get me wrong-I love
Nicky with all my heart, but he's never been easy to take care of. So
much so, sometimes I wonder how I managed, as a new mom, to care for his
every need, while every task was a new challenge-diaper changes, feeding
issues, even putting clothes was so hard I felt like I had to re-invent
the wheel at each turn. With Connor it seems like child's play...
literally! Now that we got the breastfeeding thing down, there is no
spitting up, no burping needed much of the time, changing clothes is so
much fun sometimes I do it "just because"! He slept better at night when
he was less than a week old-I am afraid we ruined it a bit after we did
the circumcision this past tuesday-it was awful. He's been restless and
many times he just wants to be held. Right now 90% of the times he cries
when he's hungry, the other 10% he stops as soon as he's picked up :-).
Overall, he's a good baby hands down... or maybe he just seems that way
after my experience with Nicky? I don't know, but one thing is for
certain, you will never hear me complain!
Nicky
is so good to him too... he loves to spend a little time with his little
brother every day. He's not jealous or anything, about the most he's
said after I apologized to him for not being able to do something for
him because I was feeding the baby, was 'this baby sure is a lot of
work'! Of course it does not seem like a lot of work for me, although I
feel as if I am holding and feeding him the better part of the day, and,
to be perfectly honest, I love it!
Something
else new for me is the fact that I can leave the baby with my husband
for a little while when I have to go run some errands-he feeds him the
milk I expressed, even changes his diaper. This is new territory for me!
Because Nicky is so fragile, his dad was afraid to be left alone with
him, afraid to feed him, I don't think he changed his diaper until
after his 2nd birthday, I never left Nicky for his entire first year of
his life. My first outing was after I begged that I wanted to go see
'Titanic' around Christmas '97. Greg does not blame him, but it was sure
hard on me.
But.. this journal is not
about Nicky, is about Connor, I just like to remember and
compare!
We have a bassinet which I
love because I take it with me anywhere I go, and he seems very
comfortable in it. Other than that, at this moment we just hold him on a
pillow with a soft fleece pooh blanket and I play with him and sing to
him when he's awake. He has the most beautiful, vivid and alert eyes...
the color is definitely light, will end up most likely blue (like my
eyes) or perhaps green, since his daddy has green eyes. Other than that,
he's so little, his features are hard to define, but I saw a picture of
Greg as a baby and... this is definitely his kid! Not that there was
ever any doubt!
mommy @ 10:07 AM
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The announcement: september
8th, 2003
He arrived via a scheduled c-section on September
5th, 2003 @ 1:12pm weighing in at 6lb 14oz and is 19.5 inches
long.
Connor is such a good baby! He eats, sleeps and is
a master at looking cute, he rarely cries, and when he does he is easily
soothed. Connor most definitely DOES NOT have EB! What a relief! He
seems to be very healthy with the small exception of a little jaundice.
He was in NICU shortly after birth because of amniotic fluid stuck in
his respiratory area, which, I am told, is a common thing with babies
born via c-section. Babies born vaginally are able to squeeze this
liquid out when they squeeze thru the birth canal. He was then put in an
isolette until he was about 24 hours old to check him out and also
because he was not eating well
I am doing pretty good considering! Because the Dr
went thru the old c-section scars, those nerve endings are long dead and
I did not have nearly as much pain this time around, and I am told the
recovery will be quicker as well. So far I have to say, he's been right
on the money. I feel much better than I remember-still in pain, but not
like last time.
Nicky is thrilled beyond words. He
loves to kiss his little brother and play with his fingers & toes.
He is just eating up his new 'big brother' role and likes to help me
take care of him. Nicky is so amazing with him!
Check the pregnancy
journal below for the last entry... his birth story. While you're there
you can check out past pregnancy journal entries and follow the links to
belly and ultrasound pictures and more!