Uneventful week, but a very full weekend

Connor turns 10 weeks tomorrow, but much of his 9th week was pretty uneventful. I was kind of ready for a week at home without any major outings or visits, because we are heading out of town the next two weekends in a row. We ran errands, etc. but mostly enjoyed time at home together playing, fussing, sleeping, eating, and pooping (in no particular order).

Connor is continuing to coo a lot and has started squealing from time to time. It's pretty funny and it definitely gets my attention if that's the idea. He also continues to like his play gym, although he has his moments with it where he gets a bit overstimulated. He is starting to like sitting in the bumbo seat looking at a toy. He is also starting this thing where he lifts his head in his car seat like he's trying to sit up or get out, I'm not sure which. Either way, it's clear he's getting stronger every day. He is also doing better holding his head and feet up while on his tummy.

This weekend we are heading to Plano in North Dallas to visit my Aunt and Uncle, watch some College football (hurray for a new season), attend a wedding of one of my best friends, and introduce Connor to all of my best high school girlfriends.

I am a bit nervous about the long drive, but I'm sure Connor will do OK. I just hate the idea of him sitting in a car for nearly 5 hours. Poor guy. I am also a bit nervous about my Aunt having to babysit Saturday night when we attend the wedding. She will do great, but it's the first time that anyone is actually going to have to put Connor to bed other than Jeff and me. He does well with us, I just hope he does the same with my Aunt. Connor has proven to be a particular little boy, so I just hope he doesn't give my Aunt any trouble. Come on Connor, be a good boy.

Well, I'll let you know how it goes on Monday. Happy Labor Day everyone! Now enjoy a few photos from the week.

Connor in his cute little overalls and posing with his "Connor" blanket.

He is mesmerized by this toy.

He'll stare at it for a while and then bat at it. Sometimes though, when he moves to bat at it, he tips over. Don't tell, but Mommy usually laughs a little when that happens.

One day this week, during the late morning, it wasn't a million degrees, so I thought it might be nice for Connor to lay on a blanket outside and enjoy the day. It was a little too bright for him, so he wasn't too jazzed about it, but it was fun while it lasted.

Connor passed out, exposing his six pack. Ok, maybe it's just a tubby baby belly.

This bib says it all. You certainly were worth the wait little guy. We love you!

You be the judge

So people often say that Connor is a mini-Jeff. I took this photo of the two of them last week that might give our loyal fans a chance to decide for themselves. So what's the verdict? Is Connor truly a mini-Jeff?

I will say that they certainly share the same lips, chin, and haircut, but when I look at baby pictures of me, I think I hold a claim to his chipmunk cheeks and his eyes. No matter what percentage of me or Jeff we see in Connor, all I know is that he is 100% cute.

Daddy with his mini-me.

On and unrelated note, Connor wore his last size 1 diapers today. He is now officially into size 2's. Moving from newborn to size 1 felt natural, because newborn is naturally a short stage, but to already be into big size 2 diapers just felt like he was growing so fast.

He is also growing out of most of his 0-3 month clothes. Those snaps are holding onto dear life around his diaper since he's pretty tall for his age.

I'm so big, I need size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes.

Also, while I'm on the subject of snaps (and clearly in a stream of consciousness mode) I want to vent about snaps on baby clothes. No one ever tells you that you'll never have nails again, as long as you are day in and day out snapping and unsnapping baby clothes. Worn in snaps tend to be OK, but brand new outfits are terrible. You're looking at a minimum of three snaps per outfit and if you're snapping up jammies, you could be snapping as many as 20 snaps. With each snap, I chip nail polish or chip a nail altogether. I know this is stupid, and us Moms aren't supposed to care about our appearance, but I am sure many of you Moms out there hear me loud and clear. Hurray to all the zipper making companies and those who make forgiving snaps. For the rest of you, won't you give a Mommy a break.

Snuggling with Daddy.

Ready for a bath. Babies are so cute with all their chubby rolls.

You better not show this picture to my friends when I'm older.

Quick visit to College Station

My Dad invited Jeff to play golf with him at his golf club in College Station on Sunday, so we decided to make a quick trip up there. My parents are currently living in yet another temporary housing situation while their home is being built, so we also got to check that out. It was the first time we had seen this new place and it was very nice.

On a side note, driving up to College Station made me immediately think of football season which begins this coming weekend. Connor gets to bust out his A&M and Michigan onesies. Sweet. Neither Jeff nor I have much confidence in our teams this season, but it's still very fun. Gig 'Em Ags and Let's go Blue.

While the men were golfing, my Mom, Connor, and I visited the site of the home they are building to see how the construction was coming along. It's looking good and I know my Dad has always dreamed of a house overlooking a golf course, so he's ecstatic which is adorable. I'm sure we'll make many happy memories at their home.

Connor did very well in the car on the two-hour drive up and then during the day he got in naps as well. Thank goodness for that. Around 4pm the men came home and we had a few quick appetizers and then headed back. It was a really quick visit, but it was very fun and I think Grandma enjoyed some quality time with Connor and Jeff enjoyed the chance to play the game he loves. He hasn't played once since Connor's been born. I swear I'd let him, but we just haven't had any time.

Grandma holds Connor at their temporary home in College Station.

Oh no Grandma. Are you attempting to hang Connor out the window, Michael Jackson style?

Oh no, wait, that's just an example facade of what their new house will look like. Fewww.

Connor is enjoying the tour. He's thinking, "Man, I can't wait to mess this place up when I get bigger."

Connor's first view of the Miramont golf course, including the beautiful clubhouse. If Jeff and Grandpa have anything to say about it, it certainly won't be his last.

Connor and I pose from what will be their back deck.

What a chunker. He certainly is the Big Kahuna.

We brought our swing with us so luckily Connor napped like a champ.

A few snacks before we headed back to Sugar Land. Connor clearly enjoys happy hour.

Yeah, Daddy's back from golf!

Now Grandpa gets the chance to hold Connor.

Hanging out on their back patio in College Station. I'm sure we'll be back to this same spot a lot during the upcoming football season. Yippee.

Also, I neglected to mention in my last post that Connor turned 9 weeks old on Friday. What a big boy. I did remember to take a picture, but I forgot to post it. Oops. Here's to belated birthdays.

Connor was a very happy guy on his 9 week birthday. I think that is a gift to Mommy more than anything else. Thanks buddy.

Here I am trying my best make-Connor-smile techniques. Apparently it's working at this moment.

Oh and I wanted to mention that Connor is finally starting to like his play gym. He doesn't grab at stuff that much but he likes to look at the dangling items.

Great couple of days

I have to say, these past couple of days have been especially wonderful with Connor. Jeff and I kind of look at our life with Connor in three hour segments. That is basically the time between feedings. He is usually happiest right after a feeding, but then the next 2 and a half hours are totally up in the air. The goal is to feed Connor, and then have a happy, playful baby for 1.5 to 2 hours and then a sleepy baby between 1 and 2 hours. When he wakes up, the cycle starts again.

Well on a good day, I can usually get this process to work perfectly for one, maybe two, three-hour cycles. There are typically about 4 in a day, so one out of 4 or none out of 4 can make for a rather long day. When it goes wrong, we typically have 30 minutes of post eating happy baby, and then 2 and a half hours of fussy baby. Not fun.

Well, since Thursday after around 1pm, Jeff and I have experienced many perfect cycles. Honestly, I think today, Saturday, Connor was great all day. He had a small setback when we were trying to get him to rest at the end of the day, but otherwise he was a perfect angel. He was smiley and content. Sure, sometimes he clambered for his pacifier, but once it calmed him he seemed fine.

Thursday morning was fun too. Grandma and Grandpa Roach (my parents) came for a quick visit to pick up some stuff they had left at our house over the summer. They gave Connor some snuggles, packed up their stuff and then we all went out for lunch. Amazingly, Connor slept the entire lunch so that's always a big success. They headed back to College Station afterward, so it was a real quick trip, but fun nonetheless. Jeff and I are driving to College Station tomorrow for a day trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa again, so hopefully we'll have more time to hang out this time.

One of the best moments was Thursday late afternoon. Jeff came home early, after attending an oil and gas conference, and we sat with Connor as he starred up at the toys hanging from his play gym. We were talking with Connor and he was cooing right back and smiling. He also showed us a new trick. He rolled over onto his side. It was so cute, because although he did it a couple times after, it seemed pretty clear that the first time was a total accident. I don't know why, but this moment just felt perfect. Our little family playing and laughing and smiling together. I felt so happy. I am looking forward to many more of these happy times together as a family.

Grandpa and Grandma see Connor again for the first time in over a month.

Grandpa has a way with little Connor.

I think they've got a connection.

Later in the day Thursday, Connor was all smiles.

Connor showing us his "trick" of rolling onto his side. See the video below for all the exciting footage. I couldn't help but laugh. It was so cute. Also, as you can see from this picture, Connor has really found his hands and loves to suck on them.

Happy Connor makes a happy Mommy. I just love to snuggle with him. He is usually less squirmy right after he eats (food coma) so that's my chance to steal some snuggles. I know someday he won't let me do this, so I'm trying to take advantage now.

Visit old and new friends

Today, Connor and I visited both old friends and met a new friend for the first time. This afternoon, Connor and I visited my old coworkers at Child Advocates. The staff at Child Advocates is predominantly women, so you can imagine the reaction we got during our visit. There was a lot of ooing and ahhing and passing Connor from one lady to the next. He did very well. Towards the end he was getting tired, but he seemed to enjoy the attention. I guess he's a ladies man already.

Although I missed the people, I wasn't itching to sit down and write a grant, that's for sure. My former boss joked that they're working on budgets right now and maybe I could stick around and help. Ha! No thanks. I love the mission of Child Advocates and I do miss a different type of intellectual stimulation, but it's hard to compare that to getting to spend time with my little man.

Auntie Kendall and Connor.

Former team member Kelly Goff holds Connor.

Nicole, former boss Karim, Kelly, Connor, and Kendall. Wow, that's a lot of "ka" sounds. Thanks for letting us visit everyone. It was great seeing you all again.

Connor chilling at home.

As I mentioned briefly yesterday, our friends Andrea and Eliud had their son Mateo last evening. Tonight, Connor and I got to meet him. We just stopped by for a brief 15 minute visit, but as a recent Mom who struggled with balancing visitors and my unending lack of sleep, I wanted to give her and her husband and their new baby some space.

I was amazed at how small he was. Mateo was born 6 pounds 14 ounces, which is 2 and a half pounds less than Connor was when he was born. That makes a huge difference in a newborn. Of course Connor has got some big cheeks, but I just couldn't get over how small Mateo's head was. I got to see his little hands too and they just seemed like miniature versions of Connor's hands.

Mateo is a total cutie and Andrea and Eliud seem to be recovering well. Of course Andrea admitted she has not gotten much sleep and they are still figuring out the nursing thing, but that is totally to be expected. Bottom line though, no matter how much sleep you've lost, you wouldn't change it for the world. Your child somehow makes you push through the insomnia and carry on.

Today's visit was very short, but Andrea and Eliud live in our neighborhood so I imagine we'll have lots more visits in our future. Welcome Mateo Eliud Faz.

Mateo in Mommy Andrea's arms. You can see just how small he is when compared to her hand.

Melissa (SUPERMOM)

I have yet to make a post to our blog; I'm not sure why I haven't yet.

However, I came home from work today to quite a scene, and it inspired me.

This is my wife and Connor's mom. This picture captures the essence of our first two months with the little guy. She's smiling, cooking, and holding a conked-out Connor (who was a fussy-bucket 5 minutes prior) all at the same time. She's truly one-of-a-kind and I think she's the best wife and mother anyone could ask for. I'll point out a few things that make the pic great:

1) Her smile - the most obvious part of the picture. She's smiled so much in the last two months.
2) Her, ahem, figure - she looks great
3) The stovetop - managing the 4 pots and pans that cooked an awesome dinner, while...
4) Holding Mr. Dude. Connor was an 8 out of 10 on the fussiness scale today, but as you can see, he always finds comfort in her arms. He finds comfort with her because she has the patience to give it to him.

In short, I'm amazed. She's been so great. I don't expect dinner on the table when I get home, but it's there anyway. She manages to get stuff done during the day, even though Mr. Demandopants sometimes has other intentions. She does it all without complaining and with a smile.

I say I'm amazed, but it's not because I didn't think she could do all of this. I knew she could, but it's still amazing. She's a SUPERMOM.

Meeting at the mall

In Texas during the summer, the best thing to do to beat the heat is to go window shopping (or real shopping) at the mall. Today, Connor and I met our friend Janna and her daughter Emme for some mall walking and some conversation. As always, it's nice to visit with other Moms and get some social interaction. Connor is still catching up on his sleep from Austin, so he slept most of the time, but woke up about half way through lunch.

Emme is a doll and we really had a lot of fun. It always amazes me hanging out with older children and just imagining how big Connor will become in just a few short months. Of course Emme is over a year old, but still, I can't help but wonder what Connor will be like when he's walking and beginning to talk.

Emme, Janna, and Connor finishing up lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.

Connor is getting better at holding himself up in his bumbo seat. I think he looks so old when he's sitting up like this.

He gets stronger every day. He has even pushed up on his elbows a few times while on his tummy.

Just a shot of him happy in the evening.

I have to say, I felt like quite a super Mom this evening. I took on quite a complicated meal and had it all prepared when Jeff got home from work. Plus, I did much of it, with Connor asleep in my arms. Not bad if I do say so myself.

I also want to finish by giving Connor's newest friend Mateo a shout out. Mateo Eliud Faz was born tonight and Connor can't wait to meet him. Congrats to Andrea and Eliud. I'm sure he's a bundle of joy.