Happy Halloween!!

Our monkey and penguin were finally ready to make their debut.

Connor was obsessed with Jackson's tail.  He eventually secured his hand.  

Once Jackson started to leave the scene, Connor was on hot pursuit.   Well, as fast Connor can maneuver.

Let us out -- we heard about tricks and treats and we don't want rocks!!

Just prior to Halloween, we added a gate at the base of our steps heading up to the kitchen. The boys consider the gate as another place to play. It was long overdue as a couple of months ago, Jackson reached the same steps and made it all the way up to the kitchen. Connor has yet to try but I'm sure that will change soon.

Eating and Laughing at Who Let the Dogs Out

When it comes time to feed the boys, it is always a struggle to keep them entertained and to try to do things as efficiently as possible.  So, often times, we resort to singing and dancing.  A popular song is Who Let the Dogs Out.  Despite my rendition not being very good, the boys LOVE it.  Big Smiles equal open mouths allowing food to enter.  It's a WIN WIN.

On this day, Connor didn't feel well so we were happy to see any smiles out of him as he just wanted to be cuddled from the minute he woke up.  He turned the corner with lunch in his pajamas and got some sleep to help him feel better.

Connor is ready to hit the hallways at the local nursing home

Connor has started to use the walker and his older brother has been struggling with the idea of sharing what he has designated as "his" toy.

Once he has freed his brother's hands, he is off.  Don't worry -- he doesn't move too fast.   You could actually take care of something in another room and come back before he needs assistance turning the walker around.

He might not move fast but he sure is cute doing it.

On his return route. 

And, while he is walking, Jackson is plotting his attack to get it back.

Another tooth report...

unfortunately for Connor, it is Jackson's Third. SO, if we were counting, which we aren't, Jackson 3 to Connor's 0. Despite the lack of a tooth or teeth for Connor, he is still eating the same food as his older brother. We can't say bigger because Connor has him by pounds and inches.

10 months

It was an outstanding and outrageously fun October of 2010.

Eating updates:

Our ability to get to the farmers market slowed down as we just didn't have enough time in our weekends to be able to get to the Farmers Markets and grocery store as our weekends have gotten busier and busier. Their new fruits are plums and cranberries. However, they are very tart on their own so we introduced a new favorite in the house--yogurt. The boys (and the dad) are particular found of Stony Field Farms French Vanilla. We also made a more direct effort to encourage the boys to eat meats. We started with turkey from Honey Baked Ham, went to chicken and let them sample brisket and pulled pork from Andy Nelson. The perfect complement to any of these items is my hash brown casserole or "cheesy potatoes." Feeding Jackson has proven to be frustrating at times due to his often want to know what he is eating. An offer of squash can bring him to tears but was perfectly fine the day before?!?

Sleeping updates:

No real changes in terms of sleeping other than and adjustment in time of naps. The afternoon nap is starting to get shorter and the morning nap is a little longer.

General updates:

After the excitement of the first family trip, we had a busy month in October.

The boys got to the Tot Lot to have some fun on the swings, went to 2 different pumpkin patches, met a new friend, Avery, to pal around with, saw the Rowans at a party and watched the Phillies for the first time with Ms. Jen and Mr. John and most importantly other than helping me celebrate my birthday -- the boys were finally able to show off their Halloween costumes. Michael and I were able to celebrate his being nominated as a Rising Star by Living Classrooms, get to a Ravens game and go out to special dinner for our 6 year anniversary and my birthday (thanks to cousin Andrew, Ms. Kim, Ms. Christine, Aunt Gina and Uncle Tony for watching the boys).

The boys have retired a lot of the summer clothes and have moved on to long sleeve shirts. They can fit in either 9 or 12 month shirts but pants are still an issue. The boys can still wear 6 month pants. Jackson is back to a size 3 diaper. The amount of poop up the back drastically decreased. Neither boy still wants to sit for diaper changes.

Jackson is continuing to motor around. He has figured out to back up the walker and maneuver in areas that we are amazed that he can actually figure out. He is very agile and looks like he is going to be good at sports. And, he is standing on his own and not holding on to things. There doesn't appear to be an intent to walk yet but we will keep everyone posted.

Big news in terms of movement for Connor. He has finally started crawling and is pulling up on things and actually hanging on. And, he can use the walker. He moves around 2 mph completely hunched over but it is SUPER cute. The lowering of the crib wasn't the best for Michael since he had to perform this "fun" task two times in less than a week.

With Connor's increased ability to maneuver, Jackson and he are struggling. The walker has created the most tension. Connor is able to use the walker but is not able to pull himself so he needs help with getting started. Jackson is struggling with the idea that he has to share the walker since he has had it for his personal use for about 1 1/2 months. Jackson has crawled in between Connor's legs and pushed Connor out of the way. Again, a work in progress in terms of learning to share.

Looking forward to an "neat" November...

Rubber Ducky may work for Ernie BUT Jackson and Connor prefer Rubber Penguin

and, basically any other penguin that they can find or get their hands on. We started to notice that the boys will ignore the rest of their bath toys in favor of the 2 penguins and it is a good thing that we have 2 because they would be fighting, if not.



And, sometimes you just need your penguin as a cuddle partner...

All Aboard, as we search for the Great Pumpkin

 

It wouldn't have been fall without a trip to a pumpkin patch. We had so much fun at the first one that we opted to go to a second one on the same day. I think that the boys were a little surprised at us just letting them do what they want amiss all of the orange balls and gourds. Connor enjoyed it so much that he tried to share his favorite past time-eating. The pumpkin stem was an obvious choice to put his mouth on.

Swinging Around the Tot Lot

We finally had a free day and opted to take the boys to the Rodgers Forge Tot Lot for the first time. It was so much fun to watch their excitement.

Connor had a permanent smile on his face from the minute that he realized how much fun until we secured him in his car seat.   And, besides his own enjoyment, he was concerned for Jackson and spent a good bit of time watching his older brother.

Jackson was laughing out loud and attracted the attention of another mom their with her boy who indicated that she loved listening to him and that she missed her own boy being that small.

We weren't out for very long but know we need to get them back as soon as we can!! I can't imagine how much time that we will spend there watching our boys grow up.

o.k. Dad, it's time to lower the crib again - XOXO Connor

A note from Connor to his dad...

I know that you just lowered the crib on Tuesday night but I was able to figure how fairly easy how to get on my knees and stand up so that I could look out of the crib. This may seem a little shocking since I really wasn't even trying and the main reason that you lowered it is that I reached up and started grabbing at the top of the crib AND am constantly hitting my head. I also know that you thought it was low enough but I'm trying to catch up with my brother.  By the way, I hate to remind you about this but mommy said that you should probably go to the lowest setting. Sometimes, she does know best. I know that you were trying to help everyone out that has to pick me up but I'm so cute, what's a little lower back pain and I will "try" to help out more when it is time to get out of the crib. As my doctor said at the visit, I am solid, which I think is a good thing.

XOXO
Connor

Time to Lower Connor's crib

He has definitely started to maneuver around a lot lately so this shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was but, it is definitely time to lower Connor's crib.

This is obviously a little dangerous as his head could quite possibly outweigh the rest of his body and toppling over is a serious possibility.

Next baby item retired -- baby bath tub

During vacation, we were able to take advantage of the large soaking tub that our master bedroom suite had to offer. I opted to get in with the boys in my bathing suit just in case they maneuvered too much but they both LOVED it so we decided to give it a go at home. We quickly realized that it was time to retire the infant baby tub. Here are some pics of the boys from their last time in their tub.

Jackson and Connor's first bath post on the blog showed off their initial feelings of discontent towards their bath. Oh, how times changed. I had been meaning to post earlier about this but it is kind of hard to take pics of newborns/infants in the bathtub due to safety concerns. 

Jackson almost immediately started to enjoy the tub after a couple of weeks.  He is definitely a splash expert.

It took Connor awhile to change his tense arms and closed eyes approach but in time, he started to enjoy our "squirt wars" and loosened up a lot to the point that he can splash me so much that I wonder who is getting the bath. 

 

Now that their infant tub is retired, we've moved on to more fun in the big bath tub. Lots more splashing capabilities in there.