Wow, what a week

So this past week was a doozy. We had a lot of fun, but it was jammed packed.

Here was our schedule:

Monday-Grocery store, cleaning, etc.

Tuesday-Grandma arrives, Jeff and I go out to a nice dinner and see "The Heights", which is a Tony Award winning musical. It was a great date night.

Wednesday-Volunteer for Child Advocates while Grandma watches Connor

Thursday-Host a playdate

Friday-Prep dinner, make a key lime pie, pack for the weekend, then have dinner with Gigi and Pagger Don as they stop over in Houston before their cruise

Saturday-Throw my back out, pick up new camera at Best Buy, head to College Station to see my sister in from Colorado and celebrate her birthday

Sunday-Head back to Sugar Land, watch Masters, go out to dinner with Connor

It was pretty wild, but definitely fun. As I mentioned too, on Saturday, we purchased a new SLR camera, which basically means it is a camera that takes much better pictures than our old point and shoot. Hopefully you will notice a difference on the blog. I can certainly tell. Considering how many pictures we take of the little guy, it will be well worth the investment.

Also, I will say that Connor is trying to move more and more these days. Still no crawling yet, but he's finally really motivated. He rolls so much more now and today he did move his leg and then his hand (so technically a crawling step), but then he plopped down like normal. Anyway, he's trying and I get so excited. He is also trying to cruise a lot more and really likes standing upright and holding onto either toys, a window sill, the coffee table, your hands, you name it. It's just fun to see him work so hard to get around. He'll do it on his own time. I like the progress though.

Well enjoy some pics of our packed week. One thing I should note, is that I didn't get any photos with Grandma and Connor when she came down to babysit on Wednesday, so I could do my volunteering. It was so cute seeing them together. She really has a knack for making him laugh. It was adorable. I'll get pictures of them next time.

On Thursday, I hosted 8 Moms and their kiddos for a play date. I made a seven layer dip, fruit salad, and had some cheese and bread too and it was all a hit. We had a good time, but as you can tell, our living room became a disaster area. It's easy to tidy up though and it was totally worth it. The ladies are all really nice.

Connor's "girlfriend" Katelyn was one of the first to arrive and she came over (she can crawl and nearly walk at only 8 months) and sat on his leg. It was really funny.

I think this is the baby equivalent of water cooler talk. Oh and here is an example of Connor's fondness for standing up these days.

My good friend Jessica and her son Jack. Apparently he's ticklish.

On Friday, Pagger Don and Gigi came in just for dinner. They flew to Florida the next day to begin their 7 day cruise on Aunt Stacey's ship. I'm sure it will be awesome. Gigi's birthday is this week, so we had a fun impromptu birthday dinner for her, complete with key lime pie (one of her favorites).

On Saturday, we drove to College Station to see Aunt Julie who was in from Colorado for the weekend. So the sisters could get some bonding time together, Jeff was kind enough to babysit Connor and Libby while we went to play some tennis and then have some lunch. It was a really great day and Jeff did an incredible job watching the little ones for nearly 5 hours! He even let us go out to dinner that night once the kiddos were asleep. What a great guy.

I should also note, that Saturday morning as I was bending down to feed Maizey, I threw my back out. I am not exactly sure what happened, but all of a sudden I couldn't move or I would be in excruciating pain. I don't know if it's a pinched nerve or a slipped disc, but it hurt so badly. I am doing a bit better now, but it still hurts and is making it a bit challenging to pick up my 23 pound son. I hope it gets better soon. I have never had back issues before, so I don't really know what to expect. Wish me luck.

Jeff took a few shots of Libby and Connor playing. So cute.

Jeff got the new camera going. Can you see the difference? What a clear photo of the little man.

Connor with a nice big smile.

Wow, don't you wish you were that flexible.

At one point during the day, he took the cousins for a walk in my sister's double stroller.

He found them a bluebonnet patch, but the sun was in their eyes, so they never really looked up. It's still pretty cute though.

Jeff was so sweet. He set up a blanket for the kids so they could play outside. What a great babysitter, he is.

Libby can crawl very quickly, so she doesn't stay on the blanket quite like Connor. Luckily Jeff's faster, so she never got too far.

Connor giggling.

We came home from tennis and lunch and were happy to see our content and well cared for babies. Julie was happy to get a few moments with her little nephew and niece.

Libby got to dine al fresco with her Mommy Erin and Grandma.

Our fun little picnic complete with birthday presents.

The Roach girls reunited.

We tried to get a cute photo of the cousins in these rocking chairs, but it was the end of the day and the kids were ready for bed, so first Libby cried and then...

...Connor cried. I guess it's still cute.

Connor still eats like a champ. Aunt Julie got to feed him as a special treat.

He does well with his sippy cup too.

Aunt Erin always makes him laugh.

Aunt Julie got one last snuggle as we read stories before bed.

After a few hours in the car on Sunday, Connor was ready to take the wheel. Um, not for 15 years buddy.

Connor was really jolly after his bath Sunday night. He was giggling as he was brushing his teeth.

Now we've got to be careful, because he rolls all over the bed.

I love standing!

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and the waitress gave us a balloon. He really liked it.

Can you tell?

It's really sweet. Lately when you put Connor to bed, he sticks his right thumb in his mouth and rolls onto his side. It's adorable. Good night sweet bear.

Happy Easter!

We've had quite a week. It started out on Tuesday, with us going to the doctor. Connor got another cold last week and by Monday, it seemed to have turned into something more. He had a terrible cough and a fever of 102.5. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and she did think that his chest congestion might be bacterial, so she prescribed him some amoxicillin. He's been fighting this crud ever since, but we do think the antibiotics are helping his cough. He still seems to have a pretty short fuse, but that seems to be improving a little bit each day. His illness hasn't really stopped him or us from having a very full and very fun week though.

Enjoy the pictures below to follow along on our exciting week.

On Thursday, Connor and I met my Mom at the Houston Premium Outlets. They are about halfway between Sugar Land and College Station so it was a nice place to meet and shop. Connor was a trooper. I guess he's a good shopper. I wonder where he gets that from? Hee hee.

After the outlets we headed to College Station to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and to see the progress on their new house in College Station. It's really coming along. It should be ready in June.

In my parents current home, they have this pub table with these huge chairs. You can't quite tell from this picture, but it was the first time Connor actually looked petite sitting on a throne in these huge chairs. It was cute.

Before bed Thursday night, Grandpa serenaded Connor with "Toora Loora Looral" an Irish Lullaby.

Grandma loved Connor's t-shirt, that read, "Hang on Aggies, I'm coming." We needed to show some Aggie pride in Aggieland, Bryan, TX.

The Texas Bluebonnets are in full bloom out near my parent's house in the Brazos Valley, so on Friday, even though Connor wasn't super chipper (with his chest congestion, etc.), we set him in a nearby field and took some photos. It really is a Texas tradition, so we had to do it.

A sweet Texas baby.

Hmm, what are these things?

OK, I like them.

My favorite.

On our way back, we saw just 4 bluebonnets sprouting up and we thought it'd be funny taking a picture with Connor and those. Clearly Connor did not like posing with just 4 measly bluebonnets. He was calling for his agent.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa's on Friday, playing with some toys.

On Saturday, the weather had really warmed up here (into the 80's), so I was finally able to bust out Connor's cute overall shorts. Connor seemed to be in a pretty good mood, so we took a bunch of pre-Easter shots.

Sitting with his Easter basket.

Now this is a Happy Easter...chewing.

Looking a little mischievous, with his new stuffed bunny from Gigi and Pagger Don.

Later on Saturday we went over to our friend Andrea and Eliud's house for a little BBQ in honor of their son, Mateo's baptism. Here Mateo and Connor are playing. New toys are always fun.

On Easter Sunday, our church held one service outdoors at a local park, so we took Connor and went. We had a great time and weather permitting, we'll definitely do this again next year. Since it was outside they even served coffee and pastries. That's not a bad way to watch a church service.

During the service, Connor did great, and at one point I looked over and he had a hold of Daddy's hand. Very cute.

There were a lot of people in attendance. I'm not sure if you can see him, but the minister is standing on a platform in the middle in a dark suit. That white tent held the band and choir. We sat in the back, but the acoustics were great so we could hear perfectly.

I don't know if it is against the Christian rules, but we gave Connor some bread and grape juice to try. So I guess technically, he's already had his first communion. At least it was on Easter.

After church, Connor was very jolly. Maybe he was on a grape juice high, or maybe he was just happy that Christ had risen. You know he is very spiritual.

Connor liked riding back to our car in the golf cart.

A happy Easter Sunday family.

After a quick change, we drove out to Humble, TX (about 45 minutes away) to watch some of the Shell Houston Open golf tournament. Connor only slept about 30 minutes in the car, but he was a champ and powered through until we left around 4:15. He also amazingly stayed pretty quiet when the golfers were around. He is already learning golf etiquette. My favorite golfer spotting of the day was Phil Mickelson. I got to see him tee off from 18. He does certainly have boyish good looks.

You're not supposed to bring your camera in, but we had to find a discrete spot so I could nurse Connor, and while we were out there, we took some cute pictures of the dapper Easter dude.

My secretive nursing spot. Jeff thought it was hilarious with a green in the background. Don't worry, it was a hole that no one was playing anymore for the day. Oh the joys of a nursing mother. If it wasn't so hot by this point, it might have actually been pleasant sitting outside with him.

After a snack, Connor was having fun hanging out in the beautiful rye grass. His hair looks kind of red in this picture. It's possible, my sister has strawberry, brown hair.

A jolly fan of golf. His Daddy was so proud.

It was cute, because I was gathering my belongings so we could get moving again, and Connor would kind of look around the stroller to see me. "Where's Mommy?"

"There she is." We did this quite a few times and got plenty of giggles.

A cute one of Connor sitting on the green.

Connor loves being on his feet these days, as you can see. Also, you can really get a good look at his sweater vest and searsucker shorts he wore for Easter.

Um, after a long day, I remembered I had bunny ears I needed to put on the little guy. He might be especially embarrassed about these.

Well, he wears it well. Hoppy Easter everyone!