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.

5 Generations

We had an exciting weekend. Jason & I went to Blaire's wedding in St. Francisville. While we were at the wedding Grand D & Paw-Paw babysat, it was the longest Jason & I have been apart from Conner. Poor Jason had to deal with me crying on the ride to the wedding, but it was worth it seeing Blaire get married & spend time with my friends. Also this weekend, Jason's Grandma was in town from Arizona and all 5 generations visited.

4 weeks old - Dr's Appointment

Today was Conner's weight gain appointment & he passed with flying colors. He now weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz. - a gain of almost an ounce a day! Conner also grew a little taller & is 20 1/4 inches. The doctor checked his breathing & said everything seems normal. Conner doesn't have to go back to the doctor again until November 4th since everything was so great.

At home Conner has been wearing us out. He doesn't seem to ever reach a deep sleep, but the doctor said that's normal & we need to remember that Conner is only supposed to be a few days old right now. After a few weeks, Conner's sleep patterns should even out & he'll be able to sleep deeper and longer as he gets a little older. Let's cross our fingers that it happens soon.

Catching Up - See below

Sorry I didn't update for a while, but as you can read below life's been a little busy. I think I have caught up on all of our news & will try to do a better job from now on. Instead of having one really long post with everything that's happened over the past 3 weeks, I separated the updates into different posts so everyone can pick & choose what they want to read & what they want to skip over.

Our first week home.

So far Conner & I have been having a good time being home together. It is tiring but having to wait 2 weeks for him to come home makes me a little excited to be able to wake up for his 3 AM feedings. I am sure that will change. He has good days & bad days, but for the most part is only cranky when hungry. The hospital set his schedule for us & his body knows when it's time to eat. He was circumcised the Monday after he was released so we are still sponge bathing him. He is not a fan of sponge baths at all; hopefully he'll enjoy sitting in the water better. He's had a bunch of visitors & is starting to get spoiled with being held already.