Pumpkin Patch

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Make A Wish!

Ever since I was a little girl, my sisters & I would make a wish every time we saw 11:11 on the clock. I am not positive how we started doing it. I am pretty sure it was just something we learned on the playground, or from a random relative. But as long as I can remember it's been a moment my sisters & I shared to stop & make a wish.

Well one year ago today, at 11:11 my wish for a family finally came true. My family came in a different way than I envisioned, but I guess God doesn't care what plans I make. Now I can't imagine my life without my a handsome son with my blue eyes and Jason's adorable smile. Ladies watch out! As a victim of that smile, I can tell you it's deadly. Conner is learning new things everyday & I can't help but sit back and watch in awe. He is so smart and curious. I can't wait to see what he accomplishes as he gets older.

A year ago today was also the hardest part of my life - watching Conner in the hospital without the ability to help him or hold him. It's crazy that a year later I can still just sit and watch him sleep sometimes and never get bored. Looking back I am so glad that things happened the way that they did because it changed me forever. I always said that I wouldn't be one of those people who changed because they had children. But here I am spending Saturday nights with my little man and loving every second of it. I am so grateful to Conner and Jason for making my life a million times better.

Lazy day... at the hospital.

(Please ignore spelling & grammar errors below. It has been a long day & my mind can't bring itself to make complete sentences.)

Today started slow. Jason & I debated going to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Metairie, but decided to enjoy his last day off by staying home & having a relaxing day doing nothing. The plan was to lay around & work on some wedding stuff & get together details for the cabbage ball tournament next weekend. Now I am so glad we decided that because the day got crazy really quickly.

First thing this morning, I went to Walgreen's because Conner's cold kept seeming to get worse even though we have been using the humidifier and baby vapor rub. I talked to the pharmacist & he suggested I purchase some infant vitamins to help Conner's immune system fight the cold. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Jason noticed that Conner was wheezing even when he wasn't coughing. I spoke to the Nurse Practitioner on call at Conner's pediatrician's office & she suggested we take Conner to the After Hours Clinic because it sounded like RSV, and didn't think we should wait until tomorrow for an appointment.

The doctor at the After Hours Clinic examined Conner and decided his lungs sounded "tight" and he may have asthma. His respiratory rate was a little high and the wheezing made the doctor a little nervous. He called the hospital & notified them that he was sending us over for a breathing treatment. When we got to North Oaks the nurses were waiting for us, but the room they had held for him was accidentally given to someone else. After a while of waiting, they set us up in the hallway so a doctor could see Conner quickly without us having to wait for another room to open up. Of course all of the nurses just loved Conner & one even commented that she wouldn't think anything was wrong with him had we not seen the doctor at the walk-in clinic because he's such a happy & handsome baby.

At our make shift emergency room/chair, Conner was given a breathing treatment & tested for RSV. After the doctor listened to his lungs for a little while he ordered a chest x-ray and Conner took a little nap. Poor baby was disturbed from his nap for his x-ray. Both Conner and I cried during the x-ray. Thank goodness Jason was there to hold him because I was a mess. They strapped him into the weird contraption that sat him up and held his arms straight up. I know he wasn't hurting, but it was so hard to watch him screaming while they took the x-rays. In hindsight, I should have waited at our room/chair and let Jason go by himself with Conner because he is so much better with those things.

After looking at the chest x-ray, the doctor said there was a small spot of fluid in his lungs & diagnosed Conner with pneumonitis. Pneumonitis (as explained to us) is a small inflammation of the lungs and the early stages of pneumonia. We were give prescriptions for Azithromycin (an antibiotic) & Albuterol (a bronchodilator) and instructions to see his primary care physician in a few days to make sure it was clearing up.

It seems I am more upset by all of this than Conner because he enjoyed his day of flirting with the nurses and only cried because he didn't like being held still. he is now playing on his mat in the living room with Jason and laughing like nothing is wrong.

6 months old already!

Holy moly! Conner is 6 months old. It feels like a long time ago that we were in the hospital, but I don't feel like he's been here that long. (I'm sure that only makes sense in my head.) He continues to amaze me everyday with what he does & learns. Just a few days ago he learned to say "da-da" & it blew my mind.

Today Conner had a check-up and shots at the doctors office. I think I cried more than he did, but we both made it out okay. Conner is still in the 75% for height & weight at 27 inches long & 19 pounds 9 ounces in weight. We also had to have Conner's hearing checked since he was in the NICU & exposed to Ototoxic drugs. Everything checked out okay, so no worries.

Wish I had the energy to update more, but it's been a long day.

Mommy is tired, so I must embarrass you!

I thought I was one of the lucky ones when Conner started to sleep through the night at just 7 weeks, but now teething has messed-up our routine. Some nights are okay, but most nights he wakes up at least once in pain. With my delirious, sleep deprived mind I have come up with the ultimate ways to pay Conner back for torturing me.

Ways to embarrass Conner when he’s a teenager:

• When he brings friends home on a hot, sweaty day I’ll only wear a tank top and shorts (no bra) to do yard work.
• When Conner is in High School join the dance committee for PSA & make the theme 90's. Then Jason & I can chaperone and pull off our super cool rap skills & dance moves to “Ice, Ice Baby” and “Baby Got Back.”
• Ask him loudly if he tinkled okay & if he wiped the seat since he has such bad aim when he uses the restroom in public places.
• When he has some friends over and they are listening to their music pretty loud. I will jump into whatever room they are in and sing along and dance (If I don’t know the song, I will make lyrics up.)
• When he gets into college I will buy a billboard and post the photo of him in just a diaper with food all over his face and say "Conner Smith, mommies little angel-good luck baby, study hard!" (Thanks Sarah for this one.)
• Pull out baby pictures when he brings his girlfriends to the house. Not just a few, a whole album, that will take at least 30 minutes for us to look at all the picture.
• When he has a friend over of the opposite sex, I will make it a point to do my shopping list. Asking him if he needs anything from the store like some cream for the rash on his tushy.
• I will roll down the windows and yell “Mommy’s here!” & honk the horn repeatedly every time I pick him up from school.
• Call the office at his school and ask them to page him to come to the office, so I can give him a hug.
• I will act like a teenager when his friends are over and try to use the cool slang incorrectly.
• Yell “mommy loves you!” when he does well at a sporting event.
• Have them paged on an overhead speaker at the mall when he’s shopping with friends and when they meet me I will be wearing the most ridiculous outfit I can find with hair in rollers.
• I will walk in to his homeroom class his first day of HS & announce that he left his "teddy" at home & I wanted to make sure he wasn't crying.

Now, before the grandparents, aunts & uncles jump in to Conner’s rescue – This is all in fun. I do not actually plan on purposely embarrassing Conner (unless he acts his dad in his teen years.) And you guys know you wish you would have done a couple of these things when we were misbehaving to teach us a lesson.

Let's play photo shoot...

So yesterday I had the bright idea to take pictures of Conner for Valentine's Day cards. I dressed him up in his cute white collared shirt & got my camera together to play photo shoot. After we were done, I didn't have any pictures that were worth turning into a card, but I did have a miserable baby at the end of it all. Conner is an adorable baby, but I can never get that on film. He will laugh & play, but as soon as the camera is on he stops & looks at me as if I've lost my mind. It's not the flash because I've tried to turn the flash off & take pictures. I wish I could say the professional pictures are better, but they're not. He's usually sleeping in the professional ones that are worth keeping. I am now on a mission to find a "baby photographer." There's got to be someone in the area that can get Conner to smile for a picture. Above are some outtakes from yesterday's photo shoot... we're going to try again soon. There's got to be a way to get cute Valentine's Day picture. I'm on a mission.

It's been months! (Sorry!)

The people who say "life changes after a baby" weren't lying. I feel like Jason & I haven't stopped in weeks & to throw another cliche' at you, "it's all worth it."

Here's a recap of what's been going on:

Jason has been very busy with work leaving at 7 & not getting home until 8 on most days, but still manages to be the most amazing dad. Jason is a master at getting Conner to eat his cereal and is a great help with diaper changing. He's even taken the 6 am feedings a few times. Jason is also pretty excited that Conner loves watching football, but I have started to ruin that for him by teaching Conner cheers for each play.

Christmas was fun for Jason & I playing Santa for the first time. I can't wait until next year when Conner understands a little better. This year Santa brought him toys, a rocking horse & a wagon. Santa's pretty smart because that wagon is going to come in handy for Mardi Gras! =)

I am trying my best to figure this mom thing out & hope I'll get it down soon. It's crazy to me how some people just naturally know exactly what to do & when. I am not that person. I read every book I can get my hands on & then go online to make sure there isn't new information that I should also consider. In my research, I have learned that Conner doesn't care what the doctors & specialists think and is going to do his own thing. I know for most people that would be fine, but it's driving me nuts. If he's supposed to sleep 14-16 hrs a day, he'll only sleep 10-12... just to mess with me.

Conner is fantastic, except for this whole nap protest he's in the middle of waging. Because of this "no sleep policy" I have been looking a hot mess lately, so if you've seen me recently please excuse. He is right on track developmentally for a 4 month old even though the doctors at the NICU said he would be a month behind. Once again, he refuses to just follow the doctors instructions.

Right now, Conner hates tummy time because he is mad he can't crawl yet. He'll try his little heart out to crawl for about 15 minutes and then he gets mad that he's not going anywhere. When I say mad I don't mean he fusses a little, no this kid screams his lungs off and I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors talk about us. That is one thing Conner is not doing well with, self soothing. He is not a fan of being alone to play for longer than a few minutes and doesn't just cry a little when he's upset. He wants to be talked to & held and if he's not happy about something he is wailing until I can calm him down. The best way to calm Conner down is to sing him his ABC's or read him a book. I am very excited that he likes story time at night before bedtime. My feelings would be really hurt if he wouldn't let me read to him.


I'm sorry if I was all over the place. I took a few breaks to try to get Conner back down for a nap, so it may be redundant or not make sense. Sorry!

P.S. Please get on me when I don't update for a while! I need someone to remind me to take the time to document our adventures more frequently so I don't forget them.