The past 18 months have flown by quickly and all of a sudden we have a toddler on our hands.  Connor is such a sweet, busy, ornery, strong-willed and adorable child.  He is still a cuddle bug and loves for his mommy to hold him.  I truly hope this never changes. I can still cuddle with him when he is 18 and going off to college, right?

He loves his school and gets along great with his teachers and friends.  He goes 3 days a week from 7:30-5, while I work, and is absolutely exhausted when he get homes.  The teachers keep then busy with arts and crafts, circle time, music time and playing outside.  I love that he goes to school and is around other children all day sharing and taking turns.  He also eats a lot more and a wider variety of food while at school.  I think it is because he sees the other kids eating so he does the same.  Connor gets a good report card every day from the teachers.  He has been going to the same school since he was 12 months but I don't think I have mentioned in the blog yet.

At his 18 month check up Connor weighed in at 28 pounds 10 ounces (80%) and was 32 inches tall (50%).  His head is in the 95th percentile! Lots of brains in there!

Connor absolutely loves all things that move or have wheels.  His favorites are trucks, tractors, airplanes and trains.  It's amazing how he gravitated towards "boy toys" without any pressure from us. He loves to ride around in this tricycle and wagon. Every evening we walk around the cul-du-sac many, many times.  We are regulars at all of the 8 parks in our neighborhood and can walk to several of them.  He loves to try to crawl up slides and swinging.  There is also a splash pad nearby that he LOVES! 

Happy 18 months little man!

Connor was clearly not up for his photo shoot this day!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy New Year!  I have been reflecting on the past year and all the moments of joy and love we have been blessed with and I am overwhelmed.  2013 was a fun year and I can't wait to see what 2014 has to offer.

Connor is 15 months and growing by the day!  At his check up he weighed 26 pounds 4 ounces (75%) was 30 3/4  inches tall (50%).  The pediatrician we have seen ever since Connor was born moved to a different office closer to his house so we saw a new (to us) pediatrician and I loved her!  She answered all my questions before I could ask them and thoroughly explained everything she recommended.  As a P.T. I truly appreciated the information and find it interesting!  One really interesting tidbit I learned is that whole milk is not only important for the Vitamin D and calcium but also to help complete the development of the central nervous system.

Connor is a full blown walker now!  He was a little late to the party but hasn't looked back.  Once he realized that his balance was good enough to keep him from falling he was a baby on the move.  The little bit of baby proofing we had been putting off is now complete.  He is very curious about his surroundings and everything he sees.  When he wants something or wants to go somewhere he points and makes a cute little sound.  Most of the time he is pointing outside which is his favorite place to be!  Thankfully we live in Texas and not Minnesota!  He LOVES looking out windows and usually bangs the blinds on the window until I pull them up so he can see outside.

Eating is still a challenge for us.  Connor does not like meats, veggies, cheese or most fruits.  I think it is a texture thing and I have been told to just keep offering them and he will eventually eat them. Until that time his diet is mostly carbs: graham crackers, peanut putter crackers, blueberries, grapes, cereal bars and yogurt.  At 15 months Connor was still nursing once a day (in the morning) but at 15 1/2 months we cut out this feeding are done with breastfeeding.  Honestly it is bitter sweet.  It's nice to be done but I do miss my snuggle time with Connor.  15 months is long enough right?

Happy 15 months!

14 month pictures!

13 months.  Connor is over a year old.  It's still hard to believe.  He is growing up so fast and I am so thankful that I have captured a lot of his milestones and memories on this blog so I will always have them!

This past month we have been busy!  From Connor's birthday party in Dallas to spending a weekend in OKC with family and friends we were on the move!  We bought Connor a new "big boy" car seat because we thought having him facing forward would help during the long car rides.  I think that he enjoyed watching the road but he was not able to get comfortable while sleeping and our plan totally backfired.  Honestly, listening to a baby cry in the backseat while on a road trip should be considered torture.  Needless to say we made several stops along the road to get just get some fresh air and regroup.  While on the topic of car seats. I absolutely LOVED our infant car seat.... Chicco Key Fit 30.   Connor is close to 25 pounds and still fits very comfortably in the seat!  Any Mammas out there looking for a infant carrier... This is an excellent choice!

Connor is a very cautious child.  I'm not quite sure where he got that from but I think it is very cute.  I think this is why is hasn't taken more than a couple steps in a row.  Once he gets a little wobbly he just sits down in effort not to fall.  He is very hesitant to take his hands off the wall or table that is balancing him.  As a physical therapist I am all about him hiting his milestones right on time, but I know that he will walk when he is ready and I'm okay with that!  Connor loves moving/ cruising all around the house.  Anthony followed him from his nursery in the front of the house, through the living room and kitchen into our bedroom and finally found me in our bathroom in about 2 minutes.  He uses a combination of crawling and walking along walls and furniture to get where he want to go.  We also got Connor a pair of walking shoes this month.  We went to Stride Rite and found out that he needed extra, extra wide shoes that were only avaliable in several styles and only online.  I think he likes wearing them and he looks like such a big boy with them on his fat, little feet!

Eating has been quite a struggle this month.  We decided to substitute nursing/ drinking breast milk during the day with a sippy cup of whole milk.  This has been hard for Connor because he doesn't seem to really like whole milk.  I just keep offering him milk and water and hopefully he will learn to drink both regularly.  I am still nursing him when he wakes up in the morning around 6:30 and right before bedtime around 7.   Connor has also become quite picky when it comes to eatng solid foods.  He knows what he likes and spits out everything else!  Such bad manners!

Connor also got sick for the first time this month.  He has had several low grade fevers over the past year but this time he had a virus and the doctor gave him medication for his cough/congestion.  He absolutely hated it when we squirted the syringe of medicine in his mouth which made the so hard to give him but I know it helped.  This all started on Halloween so we didn't get very many good pictures of Connor dressed up but he was a very cute lion.  We just hung out in our cul-du-sac and handed out candy with our neighbors.

Happy 13 months!

Connor and his cousin Bennett decided to share their birthdays with each other.  Ok fine, my sister and I thought it would be fun to throw them a joint party and the bonus for me is planning anything with my creative, elementary school teacher sister!  It was a great time and hopefully the boys will look back at these pictures and enjoy the festivities since they surely won't remember a thing.  Except the puppet show... they will definitely remember the puppet show.  Won't they?