1st T-Ball Practice and A Broken Thumb

Connor is participating is Fall Ball this season and he is so very excited to be on his first t-ball team. He had his first practice a couple weeks ago and seemed to be a natural! He enjoyed meeting the other kids and his coaches seemed great. His team is the Giants which is very exciting for us!

Unfortunately, Connor isn't able to play in the first few games due to his first major medical issue... he has a broken thumb! When we were leaving his first t-ball practice, I was putting Maddie into the back seat and Connor's thumb got caught in the door hinge when I opened the door. I usually can keep my cool, but this time I cried almost as hard as Connor. I can't express how badly I felt. We called upon our close friends and doctors, Liz and Greg Kann, and they gave us a phone consult and helped us through taking care of Connor that night until we could get into his doctor. After seeing Dr. Jain, she was fairly confident that Connor hadn't broken his thumb because he was handling the pain so well and he still had some movement. However, we still took x-rays just to be sure. Sure enough, Connor's thumb was broken. We met with the orthopedic doctor and she assured us that he was healing well with the use of his splint and should be able to participate in t-ball and gymnastics in a few weeks. Connor has been such a trooper and has been very responsible about wearing his splint.

Maddie is 7 Months Old!

Oh my! Our baby girl is 7 months old today! She is just an absolute blessing! Happy and joyful, laughing often, and such a snuggle bug. This month, Maddie has really started getting around. She army crawls and rolls back and forth to travel to where she wants to go. She'll be crawling soon I'm sure! She's reaching her arms up to be picked up or to show that she wants to go to someone else. She's babbling so much more now- and we've even heard her say Mom and Da-Eee a few times. May just be babbling and playing with sounds, but it sure melted our hearts! Connor is trying to teach her to say BuBu for Big Brother. Maddie is still nursing well, but not doing as great with solid foods. She had a high temperature and rash (likely Roseola) at the end of July and then with traveling to Orgeon, she really slowed down on eating solid foods. Hopefully we'll get back on track now that we're home and establishing our routine again. Also affected by her getting sick and traveling was her sleep patterns! She's no longer sleeping through the night, but instead waking to nurse 1-3 times each night! Yikes... not the direction we wanted to go. I'm sure it's just a phase and may be related to teething. She's still taking two to three naps a day and has really become attached to her blankie. As soon as you hand it to her, she snuggles in to your arm to go to sleep. She had her first flight this month and did awesome! She watched out the window during take off anf landing and took a little nap on both flights. What a trooper! She loves to unload her bucket of toys and seems to like to suck or chew on the tags of her plush toys. She enjoys music and being sang to and will bounce her arms up and down when we sing to her. She lights up when she sees Connor and he's still able to make her belly laugh better than any of us. There's not much that she dislikes except getting in the carseat (usually followed by a minute of screaming and then she gives in), and when Mommy tries to encourage her to eat solid food! :-)

Also, today was my first day back at work. Oh how the last seven months have flown by. I've enjoyed being home on maternity leave so much! Getting to spend every moment with Maddie and sharing quality time with Connor has been such a joy. I've even enjoyed the extra time to try new recipes and make dinner each night. It's going to be a hard transition, no doubt, but I know it will get easier. Mallory watched the kids today and Grandma Jill is going to watch them through August and then they'll start daycare/preschool at Ms. Robyn's Preschool in September. I think having them home with Jill for the first month will make the transition so much easier. Ahhh, it's never easy to leave your children. Makes me tear up just writing this. I'm thankful that Michael and I are able to have me just work 75% so I still get some quality time with them.

Beach Vacation to the Oregon Coast

My parents were housesitting for a friend in Newport, Oregon during the month of August, so we decided to sneak in a vacation before I went back to work. We spent a week in Newport, enjoying cooler weather, eating yummy food, flying kites, swimming, watching sunsets, exploring the beach, roasting marshmallows on the beach bonfire, and hanging out with my mom and dad. It was a wonderful trip!

Happy Birthday to Connor! Sprinkled pancakes and a beach house filled with balloons!

Bathing Beauty

Poppy, Mimi, and Connor on their ocean front lot. Gorgeous! 

Poppy teaching Connor to skip rocks.

Happy 4th Birthday Connor!

Daddy and Connor flying a kite on his 4th birthday.

Enjoying the sunset right behind Poppy and Mimi's property

Connor and Mommy at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. This is where we got to watch whales in the water!

At the Newport Beach Aquarium

Connor's 4th Birthday at The Bounce Spot

Connor chose to have his 4th birthday at the Bounce Spot. It turned out to be a lot fo fun and much easier on Mommy. :-) His friends and family all came to celebrate him, bounce and slide, and enjoy yummy pizza and desserts. Afterwards, the family came ove rto open presents and barbeque at our house. It was a great celebration of our smart, handsome, witty, funny, loving, FOUR year old son!

Happy 4th Birthday Connor Michael!

An Interview with Connor Michael, 4 years old:


• How old are you? Four.
• How do you like being 4? Good. I really like being 4. I won’t be four again. I’m almost 5 now.
• What are some things you like to do? I like to play on the swingset at Poppy and Mimi’s house. I like to do bubbles. I like to play Frisbee. I like to eat dinner when daddy gets home.
• What sports do you like? I like to throw the football at you (laughs). I like to go to gymnastics. I like baseball too. I’m gonna play tball and Maddie is going to come watch. I’m gonna hit it really far. Dinger (River Cat’s mascot) is gonna come watch too.
• What things do you like to do around the house? Play baseball. And I love doing puzzles. I like the ones with lots of pieces.
• What are some of your favorite foods? French fries, chicken nuggets, meatballs, and mac and cheese.
• What do you like to wear? I like to wear Spiderman jammies.
• What’s your favorite color? Pink. (Michael says, “No you don’t.”) Okay, I like purple. (To Michael) I’m gonna throw you on the sidewalk! (laughs).
• Where are some of your favorite places to go? John's Incredible Pizza. West Sac Pizza. Actually, I don’t like that place anymore because I lost my water bottle there, remember? I also like to go to Fairy Tale Town and dance on the stage. That makes you smile.
• What things make you happy? Going to the park and when you give me hugs and kisses.
• What makes you sad? When you get be bad to me. (Mommy frowns) Like when I don’t give you hugs.
• What do you do when you are sad? I do time out.
• What do you do when you are mad? I do time out.
• Who are your best friends? Lilliana, Jackson, and Danielle and Sophia, and Francesca, and the bear at John’s Incredible Pizza, and Tan Man. (Michael says, “What about Daddy?”) Noooo! (big smile).
• What are your favorite movies or TV shows? My favorite movie is Monsters and Inc. and Nemo. My favorite TV show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
• What are your favorite books? Well, I don’t know how to read yet, but I can read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” (proceeds to recite entire book). I like mommy to read “If You Give a Moose a Muffin.”
• What are your favorite songs? You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle, The I Love You Barney Song, You Got a Friend In Me, and It’s Been a Hard Day’s Night.
• What do you like to do before bedtime? Eat dinner. Oh, and eat dessert!
• What do you like to do on the weekends? Throw the ball with daddy and blah, blah, blah. (getting tired of interview!) I like to go to John’s Incredible Pizza and I like to go to Costco.
• How do you feel about being a big brother? Good. I like to be a good big brother. Maddie likes when I sing to her.