the state we're in

In disbelief, we wished Conley a happy seven month birthday a few days ago.  This month held a few challenges, such as:

• Inexplicable middle of the night wake-up calls.  This wouldn’t be so painful if our bedroom didn’t share a wall with C’s room, but it does.  Or if I were still feeding him in the middle of the night (since he would eat and go right back to sleep), but I’m not.  Consequently, we struggle from around 4:00 – 7:00am, when I finally declare “morning” and feed the little dude.  Short nights mean everyone loses!
• To add insult to injury, even when he makes it all the way through the night, he’s bumped his mornings up from a reasonable 7:30 – 8:30am  to 6:00 – 7:00am.  I never thought 8:30 would feel like sleeping in but I crazy miss those mornings.  We’ve tried moving bedtime up, moving bedtime back and nothing helps.  It’s like his internal clock just flipped a switch overnight.  Boo.
• On top of subpar sleep, he also got his first cold, but he was able to kick it before it turned into anything more serious.

Those things all add up to a sleepy baby, which, of course, means a fussy baby (aaaaand a fussy mom and dad, too).

That’s not to say it was a solid month of fuss around here.  There were also some pretty super highlights in the short life of Conley, including attending his first Rangers game, two birthday parties, first time on the swing set, and a delightful introduction to the busy box of my youth.  This already-active guy has become even busier and more mobile (which is starting to make our photo shoots a challenge as I have to stay within arm’s reach to prevent him from climbing right out of the chair).  He’s not quite crawling yet but he’s working so hard to get up on his knees and then up on his hands—he just can’t seem to coordinate the actions at the same time!  But he’s so close and we love watching him progress each day.  He’s also become much more stable when he’s standing and doesn’t “hula hoop” his hips anymore.

Conley loves standing, eating, the cats (not “eating the cats”), being outside, tumping forward, blowing raspberries, and an audience (the more the merrier!).  He dislikes watching others eat in front of him (this has become impossible unless we’re prepared to share whatever is on our plates), being left alone, and sleeping in.  He’s starting to experience a little separation anxiety which I’m afraid I’m contributing to—I just hate leaving the little cutepants!  The observation we get most from strangers (besides marveling at his handsome mug—duh) is how aware he is.  He’s rarely still, always pivoting to take in the action, and not missing a thing.  Obviously, he’s quite advanced!

Happy seven months of life, sweet Conley!  Let’s celebrate with a full night’s sleep!

Conley and I had an exceptionally trying day one day last week, so I took him to the park in a desperate attempt to buy some happy time.  He’d never been in a “real” swing before and as you can see below, the plan was a great success!

The three of us had just shared a lovely brunch on the patio at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.  We were the only ones outside, probably because it was just a touch warm in the sun but we had a beautifully shaded spot with a light breeze and it was p-e-r-f-e-c-t.  As were my peach pancakes.  So what if I turned Conley’s stroller around so I wouldn’t have to share my birthday pancakes?  Don’t judge.  And let’s just ignore the unsightly something or other on Cutie’s chin, shall we?  It’s just how we roll.

What a lucky girl I am!

Goodbye, summer…

Hello, fall!

I was a little sad to take down the wreath my mom and I made with Conley’s tiny socks shortly after he was born, but I was also pretty proud to have my fall wreath finished and hung by October 1st! 

Kendrick and I (but mostly Kendrick) painted our front door black a few weeks ago (this is a post-sanding, pre-painting photo).  It’s a huge improvement from the dingy maroon we inherited but never loved, and now I love how anything we hang on it just pops. 

Here’s hoping my pumpkins ward off any more 90° temps!

Can you just hear the belly laughs?

We can hardly believe little Conley’s been around for six months already!  In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago that this tiny baby was dropped into our arms (haha, if only it had been that easy ) and in other ways it feels like we blinked and he went from a red, wrinkly newborn to this miniature human boy who gives and takes and is actually fun to spend time with.  Kendrick and I still regularly marvel at the seismic shift that’s occurred in the past few months, not just in becoming a family of three, but in how C has settled in and become such a joy to be with.  We still have the fearful knee-jerk reactions when we think about pushing him beyond his schedule, but the reality is that he has learned to go with our flow so well that he can handle a lot more than we think.  We were so conditioned by those early weeks of struggle and tears that his flexibility and resiliency is still sinking in for us.  But it’s always a happy surprise when he impresses us again and again!  (Of course, the boy has his limits, but don’t we all?)

At his six month check-up, Conley weighed 18 lbs, 8 oz (70%), and was 28.5” long (98%), so he’s following his growth curve well.  Since my last post, we’ve added brussel sprouts to his diet (C rating: meh), carrots (bleh), super porridge (a brown rice cereal, double bleh!), and bananas (yes!).  We also just started introducing a sippy cup.  He loves chewing on it, but I don’t think he knows there’s anything inside yet.  We’ll get there.

He’s sitting up like a champ, but is still most interested in standing.  His doctor said his gross motor skills are very advanced after observing his standing and attempted “walking,” and remarked that he’s trying to be a little boy and not a baby.  I’m not sure how I feel about that!

We decided in the past month to try to drop his 10:30 “dreamfeed” and see if he would still sleep through the night—big success!  He now officially sleeps from about 8:00pm – 7:30am (or so).  He takes three naps a day and they can be anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours, depending on the day we’re having.

Another exciting thing that happened this month was Conley’s Grammy and Granddad (my parents) moving nearby!  They crossed the country to be close to this cutie and he’s thrilled they’re here!  He’s already had an ominous introduction to the geese down the street and he can’t wait to play in the lake near their house.  I see lots of fun times ahead!

Happy half birthday, to our sweet baby boy!  You are such a precious gift and we love you more every day!

Conley’s really starting to love the cats.  Sadly, the feeling isn’t mutual.

… and won’t remember that his first exposure to his favorite team was a 4th quarter meltdown that rivaled the Mavs’ performance in game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals.  Otherwise, Conley’s first gameday was a roaring success even if he was asleep 20 minutes after kickoff.  As cute as the Cowboys were ugly!

I know I said Conley hasn’t had too much reaction to new foods, gobbling them up like it’s his job, and that’s mostly true.  But there was this one night….

I’m pretty sure this was his second or third exposure to avocado and he had been loving it.  I’m not sure what got into the boy, but he was certainly nothing if not clear!

On a related note, he’s in another “spitting moment” right now.  He spits when he’s excited, he spits when he’s mad, he spits when he’s trying to join you in a whistle.  I think mostly he spits just because he can.  Shouldn’t we all, really?

Whew. Why hello there, blog… I suppose it’s been a little while, hasn’t it? SO MANY THINGS have happened since I last blogged that I hardly knew where to start. My natural inclination in situations such as these is to make a list and work my way through top to bottom.

And then I feel remarkably lame for not documenting my goings-on with more regularity.

So, about that list.  As best I can remember, here’s what’s happened in my life since I wrote my last post:

• I refinished my garage with immeasurable help from my dad
• I visited villages in remote parts of Mali
• I had a photo printed in a niche NASA publication
• We had our house’s 60 year old leaky windows replaced
• We kept our yard green through an epically hot summer
• I quit my old job
• I started a new job
• I became a father and picked my jaw off the floor after Jen went through 51 excruciating hours of labor
• I went to a couple of great car shows
• I played an awesome prank on a coworker
• We took our infant to the Oklahoma panhandle so he had early exposure to his roots

So buckle up, because like any good list, this one is actionable.  The silver lining to having not written anything for months and months is that now I’ve got lots of stories and plenty of photos to share.