Happy Hump Day!
Also, it’s sorta like TGIF since it’s the last workday of the week.
And I can’t forget to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! I won’t be posting anything for the rest of the week on purpose, not just accidentally because I’ve run out of time and energy and am a slacker.
Hope everyone has at least a four-day weekend and enjoys lots of comfort food. Gotta love a holiday that’s all about eating!
And for those diehard deal-seekers out there:
This one’s for Bri!
Connor is all over the place now, mostly because he still can’t get himself back to a sitting position from being on his belly so he’s like a shark who has to keep moving all the time.
Connor had his nine-month appointment last week. He weighed in at 22 lbs 4 oz, which puts him in the 88th percentile. He is 29.5 inches long – my tall guy is in the 90th percentile for height so no wonder his pants are all highwaters. And then there’s that head. At least the nurse didn’t have to measure it twice. He went down a percent to the 96th percentile.
As the 88th percentile might suggest, he is loving all the food so long as we are spooning it into his mouth. He’s really not all that interested in picking the food up himself, except where the mesh feeder is involved. He loves to gnaw on that thing when it’s full of frozen mango and even plain old ice cubes.
Connor is our little daredevil. He has decided he likes to go headfirst off the couch or bed and have us catch him, flip him, and throw him back on the couch or bed to start everything back over.
He still sleeps great at night and while he doesn’t always nap that well, he consistently goes down for two naps each day and they typically add up to about an hour and a half to two hours. Except this past Saturday when he barely slept for 45 minutes in the morning then surprised us by sleeping for TWO AND A HALF HOURS that afternoon. All that free time in the afternoon was glorious! Just like old times.
The downside to that long nap, the ONLY downside, was that I didn’t get a chance to take these monthly pictures on a sunny afternoon. And then it was late in the day on a gloomy, rainy Sunday before I had a chance to stage this little photo session. So I apologize for the less-than-great photos, but some are better than none, and again, they’re worth it for that nap.
We are still working on sign language but one thing he knows? Gimme five! Yep, if you hold your hand and say that phrase, he’ll give you some skin.
He babbles like crazy, making lots of “m” sounds and saying something close to “mum-mum-mum” over and over again. He also says “bah-bah-bah” a lot.
Connor still loves his jumper. It’s going to be a sad day when he gets too heavy for it. He hates having his face wiped and will scream bloody murder when he’s particularly opposed to it.
His eczema is better than it was. We are using the special detergent, special soap, a hydrocortisone cream (once a day on the worst spots for up to two weeks), and lots of Vaseline.
Connor got his first teeth, his bottom two middle ones, around the 8.5-month mark and we didn’t even know it. Must be the magic amber necklace! Now we’re waiting on the top teeth to pop through, but if they are as “bad” as the bottom ones, then we’ll just have to wait til we catch a glimpse of those pearly whites.
Connor is a joy. He is a very happy guy 95% of the time and when he’s not happy, it’s usually remedied quickly with food, sleep, or holding him.
Those people who said, “It gets better”? Turns out, they were right.
It’s Monday, and the only way to start the week, especially THANKSGIVING week, is with food.
I don’t really have lots of pictures for this post, but I’m going to talk about the shower food anyway. We could’ve done a taco bar with several meats and all the toppings and the shell of your choosing, but since the shower started at 3:00, I didn’t think a full meal was the way to go. Instead, we had Mexican food-inspired snacks, sweets, and sips.
The snacks:
The sips:
The sweets:
Mexican food and margaritas: If those don’t say “baby shower,” I don’t know what does.
This post won’t interest everyone, but I can’t not do it. I need to be able to look back and see all the people who celebrated Coco (that’s our nickname for Vanessa’s baby) at the shower.
Vanessa’s sister-in-law and mother-in-law.
Speaking of moms, here’s mine.
Two more mother-daughter combos. First up: Laura, my co-hostess, with her daughter, Gia.
And Jennifer with her daughter Savannah.
Laura, Vanessa, and me.
Vickie and Vanessa.
Vanessa with the grandmas-to-be.
The boys spent the day at the track and joined us when they got home and the shower was over so we got a picture with Shawn and his dad.
My girls.
Posin’.
A couple outtakes.
More posin’.
And more playin’ with the belly.
TGIF! This is the first weekend since at least mid-October that we haven’t had something to do both Friday and Saturday nights and I am very much looking forward to the respite, especially with Thanksgiving and all its craziness looming.
Hope you guys have good weekends!
First of all, I have to thank Heather for the majority of these pictures. I had asked her to show up a few minutes before the shower started because she is a great last-minute helper. Luckily she had a few minutes after assisting with kitchen clean-up to snap some photos.
I did just a little bit at the front door to help get people in the fiesta mood as they entered the house. The pillow that refused to cooperate says “Bien Venido.” My idea, but my mom’s handiwork.
Just inside the front door was the favor station with my sign and little bags of Chicago Mix popcorn.
On to the main event! I taped store-bought fans to three of the back windows and placed my oversized flower arrangements in front of the fan-less windows.
I had the idea to do the flower arrangements but once again my mom was the sweat. She made all the paper flowers, but I did arrange them on the sticks (with some input from her). She’s also behind the papel picado (that’s the banner thingie) on the table. We saw the doilies on our way out of Michael’s and I knew we had to use them. So we cut them in half, strung them together, and then I pinned them to the tablecloth.
So that’s the food table. The drink table itself wasn’t too interesting, but the background was fun.
Another mom-and-me project. I asked her if she could sew plastic tablecloths together and she said yes. She had to play with the material a little but she figured it out and voila! I had a very cool backdrop.
Vanessa opened gifts in the den against a wall that has two built-ins and a fireplace. I had to dress those areas up so I spray painted wine bottles and dug into my stash of paper lanterns. I also used lots of paper flowers thanks to guess who? Yep, my mom!
(We’ll get back to that pinata in a minute.)
I asked people to fill out little cards with either advice for Shawn and Vanessa or well wishes for their baby girl.
Then Shawn and Vanessa opened it later together and read everyone’s messages.
We’ll talk about food and people soon!
