One Year

Connor is One year old! 

He has grown up so quickly. He's walking like a pro, trying to say words and loves cars, balls or anything that makes noise or has buttons.

It's hard to imagine he was this small a year ago.

As great as my birth experience with Connor was, I'm glad we'll just be hanging out at home and relaxing this October 18th. 

He used to be such a calm, content baby.

And now he's a full blown toddler. He is so happy and has tons of energy. He gets into everything. He climbs on top of Dallin, and we're usually breaking up wrestling matches between the two on Dallin's request, not Connor's. He always destroys my best block towers.

He is strong and tough and not phased by most minor scrapes and tumbles (unless the reason he threw himself onto the floor was to get your attention, and then he can really scream). He is quite the monster.

 But we love him so much.

Happy Birthday, my little monster.

Walking and first hair cut

So, just over a week ago, Connor decided he was finally going to start walking instead of crawling. I intended to get a video of his early, shaky and unbalanced steps, but that didn't happen. And now in this short amount of time, he is walking like a pro. He can walk from one side of the house to the other, turning corners, stopping and starting several times and never once fall to the ground. I'm amazed at how quickly this happened!

He can walk when he's mad at you for not letting him play with the camera.

And he can walk while shaking a tambourine.

He walks really fast sometimes and I'm always waiting for him to just fall forward on his face, but he doesn't.

Not only is he walking now, but he got his first hair cut tonight! He had a long tuft on top and he was rocking a baby mullet in the back, so it was time.

 I thought he'd be really squirmy and uncooperative so I had Mckay do the cutting while I held him down, but Connor was very good. Probably because he was very interested in the clippers and just wanted to watch what was happening. I doubt we'll be so lucky next time.

He looks older now.

I can't believe he'll be a year old in a few days...

Crafting

I've been in a really crafty mood lately. I think it has something to do with the changing seasons, though I'm not sure why. I made a display for my necklaces so I can see them all easily and now they don't get tangled in my jewelry box.

 I used a picture frame from Goodwill, spray painted the wood, and then used fabric and quilt batting to make the backing.

I sewed buttons to the fabric to hang the necklaces from.

Not only is it functional, I also think it's pretty. Kind of like a work of art.

I also made some art for the boy's bathroom to match the shower curtain.

 

I actually made these a while ago, put haven't posted about them. They were super easy.

I traced some images from the curtain onto cardstock, got cheap craft paints and painted the images on the paper. Then I framed them. Easy!

I'm working on a felt Advent Calendar for Christmas. I know it's a little early, but I have to finish by December 1st, and I'm sewing it all by hand so it'll take some time. I'm loving the ornaments I've made so far.

The mitten and candy cane aren't completely sewn together yet. (I'm using mostly this advent calendar as my inspiration.)

I made a simple drawstring bag to hold the boys' church toys.

 And I also whipped up a smaller bag to hold the birthday present I'm making for Connor. (His birthday is in 10 days!)

Any guesses as to what I'm making for him?

Connor has been doing some crafty work of his own.

He chewed on his crib!

I know lots of kids do this, but Dallin never did and Connor has had teeth for a while now so I figured we'd be safe. I think this was his way of getting back at me for putting him down to nap before he was done playing.

Busy weekend

We decided to go camping with some friends last weekend. The weather has been getting cooler and we wanted to camp one last time before it gets too cold. I planned for cool weather and brought lots of layers to keep everyone warm. What I didn't account for was rain. The weather forecast said it would rain, but I figured it would be a light drizzle and we'd all survive just fine.

We were one of the first families to arrive and we set up our tent. As we started working on a fire to cook dinner, a light drizzle started. 

The boys didn't seem to mind.

Then a heavy downfall of rain appeared just as we got a good flame going. Other families had arrived by this point. Some had set up tents already, some had the smarts to just stay in the car.

 I ran to our car with the 2 boys.

 After a while of sitting in the cold rain and kids being uncomfortable, we decided to call it quits. The plan was to ditch our tents, go out to dinner somewhere, and come back for the tents in the morning. (Luckily, we weren't camping too far from home.) As if the rain hadn't "dampened" our spirits enough, one of our friends couldn't find her car keys. We searched in the torrential downpour for a while, but to no avail. So we ditched the car along with our tents! The only (working) cars left at that point had one seat each, smashed between two car seats. We took our friend's son in our car while she road in the other.

 The 3 boys were pretty cozy in the back seat.

And then we drove to Pizza Hut! The boys were all passed out by the time we got there.

We were a sad looking bunch when we arrived. Five adults, five kids ages 3 and under, sopping wet and smelling like smoke. Some people changed into spare clothes (pajamas) which helped with comfort but not with our level of ghetto-ness. But there's nothing like warming up your cold hands on the heating lamps of a Pizza Hut buffet.

 It was an exhausting night, but we managed to have a few good laughs. We woke up early the next morning so we could stop by the campsite and take down our tent. Amazingly, it hadn't floated away in all the rain. We found the missing keys and everyone was on their way. 

We made towards Indianapolis to attend a Williams Syndrome Family picnic. It was no longer raining, but it was pretty cold and windy. That didn't stop the kids from playing on the playground.

 We had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Connor crawled all over the place with no fear for swinging bridges, slides, or sudden drops off the edge. He is very daring, and he managed to kick off both his shoes in his adventures.

Even though it was a very busy weekend, we had a great time with our friends. And it was nice to sit and relax once we got home and not have to worry about dinner, since we had uneaten foil pack BBQ Beef sandwiches from the night before.

Guest Post

I was featured as a guest poster on a blog!

Ashley at The Pickled Bean blog is the mom to an adorable little boy with Williams Syndrome. We met through the WS support group on Facebook. She has family in Utah (so do we!) and lives in San Francisco (close to my parents!) so we have a few things in common. Every week she features the story of a WS parent and she chose me. If you haven't already, you can read my post on her blog HERE.

A little too happy

This is a pretty typical "just before bedtime" scene at our house. The boys seem to be their happiest and cutest right before bedtime. It's like they think if they behave and act very cute, we won't want to throw them into bed. And it works for them most of the time!

Growing up

Connor is growing up so quickly. He's already past 10 months old, one week away from 11 months. I realized a few days ago I forgot to take a 10 month side by side comparison shot of the boys. The only way to get Connor to lay still was to let him eat my phone and Dallin decided he wanted to look dead, so this is the best you get. (See 8 month comparison here, 6 month here.)

Connor has 6 teeth now which he uses very effectively to eat all kinds of foods, even meat! He's becoming a better eater than Dallin. Example: Last week we had Pad Thai for dinner. Dallin wouldn't eat any so he had a peanut butter sandwich instead. What is wrong with this picture?

 Dallin wanted to sit in the baby high chair and barely finished half a sandwich, while Connor happily sat at the table in the booster seat and ate a good portion of noodles.

Full disclosure: about half those noodles fell on the floor.

Connor loves cherrios.

He eats them by the fistfuls.

 He is *almost* walking. He will stand all by himself, and a few times he has taken one step before falling down.

 We're not calling anything official on "first steps." Mostly because Mckay hasn't been home to see it and I don't have video yet. But I'm anticipating multiple steps in the next week or so.

 Connor loves being outside. What kid doesn't? We got a lot of rain last week and that brought cooler weather with it. During one rainy day, I had the back door open with the screen closed to let some cool, fresh air in. Connor opened the screen door (all by himself!?) and sat by the open door watching the rain.

For like 10 minutes. I'm sure he would have escaped if there wasn't the danger of getting wet.

Connor has discovered he can reach most things he wants by climbing.

We had a little evening bonfire at a friends house. All the older kids were sitting and eating at this picnic table. Connor managed to climb up on the table by himself to finish off their leftovers.

Dallin is growing up a lot too. He is becoming very opinionated. He will often veto my outfit choices for him. His favorite pajamas are the warm fleece ones with footies, which are great for the winter, but not the best when he chooses to wear them in the hot summer months. This morning, while getting ready for preschool, he asked me to put the hood up on his jacket.

 He also like to help me with things. Most of the time it's great. During Mckay's birthday weekend, we surprised him on Saturday morning by picking up some fresh Mary Lou Donuts. Dallin (who is developing quite the sweet tooth) demanded that he carry the box out of the store. 

He held it on his lap the whole way home. I counted the donuts when we got home to make sure he didn't sneak one on the drive.