Where is that last present??

Conor had a great christmas. We got to spend 6 days in Albuquerque and spend a lot of time with both of our families. We barely fit all his presents back in the car but we made it back and are looking forward to a great new year.

Conor's First Present

Ok so not his first present, but the first one he opened and knew what he was doing. We had our little Christmas tonight before leaving for Albuquerque. He had a blast. He even guessed one, it was a basketball wrapped up and he picked it up and said "Ball!"

Merry Christmas!!

We got Conor's picture taken with Santa yesterday. After watching all the kids in front of him scream and cry I thought he might get scared but he didn't even give Santa a second look, just sat there. He was more excited about the decorations on the tree...they were bulbs but to him they were ball...ball...ball....ball :-)

November Pics

Can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now Christmas is a few weeks away! We had Craig's family in town the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, and then Stef's family was here for Thanksgiving week. It was a blast and we got so used to having someone around. We are looking forward to Christmas in Albuquerque.

The things you will do....

Its been a rough week in our house! First, on Tuesday Conor got bit by the Daycare owners Dog on the top of his nose, and as a result is now closing. Conor is doing just fine, and his mood never changed. If it hadn't been for the small nicks on his nose, you would have never known. So, when the owner called to tell me what had happened, she told me she feels that she needs to close the daycare as soon as all the kids can find placement. Crap, we have no Plan B!!!

So....we have been scrambling to try and find alternatives. The Montessori school we want him to go to is currently on a Wait list 13 deep for this school year. However, they began accepting Applications for next year's school year today! Keep in mind that school for next year will not begin until August, but they were accepting Apps this morning, beginning at 7am! We had already been warned how crazy this day can be and came prepared. Apparently last year it was Superbowl Sunday and people camped out literally overnight after the game. We are gung-ho but not that nuts. So Craig got up at 3am and got down there to only find 1 other person in line! He stood out in the cold until 6:20 and then Conor & I relieved him. Craig & Conor then went back home to get ready for work & daycare and I waited to drop off the App when the office opened. Although we were #2 in line, we were #1 for his age group. So depending on the number of kids his age that are rolling over and already enrolled, we should hopefully be good! Once you are in, you're in! So if we get in for next year, we won't have to do this again!

Ahh, the things you will do to get your kids into the best schools!

Here's a great pic of Conor and his cousins in Albuquerque!

Addisen, Conor, Emersen, Avery

Halloween

Halloween came and went! We had Stef's parents in town for the weekend and got to help Conor celebrate his 2nd Halloween. He was much more present this year, as last year he slept on Stef's chest the entire night and missed out on all the fun.

Halloween in Phoenix is wonderful b/c the weather has cooled off (still in the 80s) but the nights are perfect and everyone on our block hangs out in their frontyards with food, drinks, and hands out candy. We do live on Elm Street by the way, but no Freddie Kruger sightings!

Here's our little Fireman!

Trip to Albuquerque

Another trip to Albuquerque! After this weekend's excursion, we might be re-thinking the flying thing. Even though both flights are only 50 minutes long, Conor had a meltdown both to and from, with about 20 minutes to go. So, we are definitely not in the mood to fly again anytime soon. Think roadtrips are in our future!

Member of the Russian Hockey team!

Conor and his cousin Avery.

My favorite

Craig & Conor

Pumpkin Patch

So we finally got to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend, although our visit was brief. It was already 90 degrees when we got there, 9am!!!, so we didn't get to stay that long b/c we were all sick of the heat! Is it ever going to cool off and stay that way?

Here are a few pics, hope you enjoy.

The people who took our picture, ended up being from Iowa and the guy is best friends with one of the guys Craig played baseball with in college. Such a small world!

Conor in the Maze

These pumpkins were pretty large, so he wasn't able to pick them up. We have some that our just his size already at home, and he loves to pick them up and launch them as far as he can. Total boy.



Petting zoo.
Conor just stared at the Donkeys and Goats. He wasn't too impressed with them.

We are off to Albuquerque this coming weekend to visit friends and family! Oh ya, at Conor's 15 mo checkup, his doctor also noticed his 4 molars are coming in. I'm sure that feels really great.

15 mo checkup....already?

Always thought is sounded so cliche, but time is just flying by. How come when your a kid it doesn't seem like that, but the older we get and the more we want to savor a day, it just whiz's by? I know our families always look so forward to visiting AZ, but it's always time for them to leave before we know it. Oh well, I guess that's life.

Conor had his 15 mo well visit yesterday and I'm happy to report his "Stats!" He's now 31 1/4 inches tall, or almost a "yard stick" as my mom said! That puts him in the 50-75% for Height! Who knew? Especially since his Mommy is a whopping 5' 2"! Good thing he's got tall genes from his Daddy's side!

He weighed in at a hefty 23 lbs and 3.4 oz! That puts him in the 35% for weight, so again he is tall and lean! He eats like a tank, but since he is so busy and basically running everywhere, he is burning tons of calories. But nothing to worry about! He got a few shots and we were on our way!

Check back early next week, as we are taking Conor to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday!

A few pics from the weekend

Conor has also been battling Hand, Foot, & Mouth Virus. I guess he has now completed the trifecta...Croup, Roseola, Hand Foot & Mouth. Still have no idea where he is getting this stuff, b/c each time not one child at daycare has had it. It must be from me, who's in & out of County Health Departments & Hospitals all day for work. In this instance, we had no idea he had been sick until Monday afternoon when I noticed a rash all over his body. He had been eating and drinking normal amounts and never had a fever. The only symptoms he did have were cough & drool, but we just thought nothing of the cough, and attributed the drool to teething. Then the Doctor saw the ulcers in the back of his throat! Ouch! He had 1 restless night and seems to be back on track since Wednesday.

Here are few pics from this past weekend's visit with Gigi & Papa. Enjoy!

Here's Conor & Craig come down the slide at the park.

In our front yard, playing with rocks.

Batter Up!

Denver

This past weekend we went to Denver to visit friends, family, and to see a Broncos game. This was Conor's first flight since being able to walk, so we could harldy keep him contained in his stroller. He stood on the horizontal escalator and wasn't too sure about that. He also walked the entire concourse from Security to the gate and all over the gate area. He even walked up to another little girl his size and took her hat off.

We had a great time in Denver, beautiful weather until Monday when it decided to snow! We left there when it was 57 degrees and arrived back hom to 104 degrees!

Conor got to play with some many older kids this weekend, it was fun to watch him interact and try to keep up. He tried his best, and only got knocked over a few times by the kids running past him! He just can't wait to run with all of them!

Conor playing with Craig's Aunt Pat.
He loves playing with the wood chips at the playground area. As you can tell, they are all over his butt!

Playing catch!


So many places to go, so many to see.....

Run!!

We finally caught him walking

Trip to the Park

We haven't been very punctual about posting updates lately. We've had a busy August and looking forward to September when the temps finally start to dip below 100 and it's football season! We've had both Grammy, Grandpa, Gigi and Papa all out to visit this month, as well as one Adult night away for Craig's birthday, and also a Stay-cation for Labor Day weekend at a beautiful resort called the Fairmont Princess just 20 minutes from our house.

Here are some great pics of Conor at the Park last week!

Watchin a puppy...

Full Moon!

We just couldn't resist....so we will go ahead and apologize now to Conor, b/c in 20 years he will probably be mad at us for showing this, much less posting it on the internet!

Conor absolutely loves bath time!

Anybody Need a Ride??

Conor's answer to high gas prices. :-)

13 months

Time has been flying by and we have been very very busy lately. Last weekend was Craig's birthday and we also had Gigi & Papa in town! Conor is in such a great stage and we are having so much fun with him and truly enjoying every moment. He has started trying just about everything we are eating, in moderation of course. But so far he is doing really well and really liking his real milk. He still gets 1 sippy cup a day of formula and he still gulps that down, but soon enough it will be all Milk!

Many times, when Craig & I are eating in front of the TV, Conor will come over and look at our plate and point and make a chewing motion with his mouth. So we usually give him a little of what were having, even though in most cases he has just eaten his own food.

One of his favorite toys, he actually prefers to push the entire toy around the kitchen and living room. He stands behind it and literally pushes it where he wants to go, much like his fire truck that actually has wheels.

Playin with rocks!

Standing tall!

Watchin in the pups play outside. Its still well over 100 so we don't get to spend much time outside.

On the Move

As promised...here is a video of squeaky motoring around with his fire truck. The only thing we need to work through is that he cries in frustration every time he runs into something, which is every 3 seconds :-) I'm sure he will let go of it soon and just take off

Today was Conor's 12 month checkup! He is now in the 75% for height - a heaping 30.5 inches! As for weight, he is 21 lbs 7 oz, so about 45%. He is slim and trim, guess we need to beef up his feedings! He already eats well, but since he's so active we should probably start giving him more! Gone are the days of him being content in your lap. He is so busy and into everything.

We are also excited to ween him from his stinky, really expensive formula of Nutramagen! Because of his tummy issues related to his Reflux, we've had to be on this for sooooo long! But good news, it's time to start integrating real milk into his diet! We are clear to feed him anything we eat, with the exception of Peanut butter and nuts! Wonder if he will enjoy pizza as much as his mommy does?!?

I've already caught him storing feed in his cheeks, just like mommy used to do! I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, does it?

The funniest thing he is doing now is repeating. He loves to play on and near the pups food & water bowls. So I've been saying "ah ah ahhhh," rather than NO. And what does he do now? He says it back to me.

He also loves to play on the glass-top table under our TV. Last week he crawled over there and Craig told him "No," and he shook his head. Well, Conor decided to go back over to the glass-top table, and he looked right at daddy and shook his head no! Sooo funny and yet so hard not to laugh!

First Steps

Conor took his first steps without help on Sunday the 19th!! We did not get on video but we both yelled out and scared the crap out of him :-). We will get a video soon and post it.
If you didn't see this, click thelink below to check out Lliam (my cousin's little boy) singing happy birthday to Conor.
Happy Birthday from Lliam

2nd Birthday Party Fun...

The Birthday Celebrations have come and gone! Conor had so much fun, and is officically spoiled. He had 3 parties including the one at Daycare, and got cake each time! Here's a few pics from his Party at our house in Phoenix.

We have Conor's 12 mo well visit next week and can't wait to start real milk. We have been on Nutramigen the entire time and it's so expensive compared to normal formula, but since he's had tummy issues since he was born, the doctor wants us to wait till we see her before we introduce real milk.

Happy Birthday Conor Jace!!!!

Where has the year gone? A year ago yesterday at 4:00 pm I called Craig at work to tell him my water broke, and that he might want to leave work! I was so scared, after all this was 6 weeks too early! Thank goodness my neighbor Nadia came over to be with me until Craig got home. I did not have a bag packed, and was literally in the middle of doing his first batch of laundry (crib bedding).

That night we had plans to put the Crib together since the following day the carpet would be going in to Conor's room. Not one thing was washed or out of its packaging from the 2 showers I had. The Nursery only had painted walls, baseboards and trim in it. Nothing else! This has got to be a funny story to those of you who know me, since I am the most type A, organized and plan everything kind of person you might know. So to not be prepared, really threw in some extra anxiety!

So Craig and I drove to Scottsdale Healthcare, and didn't take the route we had previously mapped out....it was rush hour and we were kind of in a hurry, so we took a lot of unexpected turns. Plus we weren't thinking clearly. He dropped me off in front of the hospital and instead of getting a wheel chair, I walked my butt all the way to the 2nd floor L & D Triage, holding a towel around me....what was I thinking???

They got us into a Triage room where we hung out from probably 5:30 till almost 7:30, watching my favorite summer TV show - So You Think You Can Dance! I was registering contractions but wasn't feeling them till about 7:20. This is when the common sense hit me and I begged for my Epidural! The Nurses inspired me and kept saying "...don't be a hero."

During all this time, our parents in Albuquerque were scrambling on how to get here!

At around 7:45 pm they moved me into my Delivery suite and I received the drugs! Oh thank you so much,b/c the pain was starting to intensify! I was so surprised at how much they debilitate your entire lower body, but I didn't care at this point. Another odd effect I had was the chills. My teeth were literally chattering...so weird. We continued to watch TV and talking with our mom's. They had missed the last flight out, so the Mom's hopped in a car and started the long 6.5 hour drive around 9:00pm.

Around 9:20 the Nurse checked me and I was only at 2 and they encouraged both of us to get some sleep. So we turned off the lights, but who could really sleep at a time like this. I was starting to feel pressure but didn't know if I should tell the Nurses. So at about 11:15 I told the Nurse what I was feeling and sure enough, I was a 9! Baby boy Byers was ready! They had just told my Doctor a few minutes early to go to sleep that it might be a long night....ha ha ha Little did they know Conor Jace had other plans.

I started pushing at 11:20 and we had to stop and wait for the Doctor. She got there at 11:40 and that's when we started pushing again. (Now keep in mind, we had only been to one birthing class and it was Infant CPR. Both Craig and I were registered for 2 more but those weren't until that weekend and the next. This again, was 6 weeks before any of us ever expected! So I had no idea what I was doing or if I was doing it right). After our Doctor got there, I only had to push 3 times...

At 12:07 am Conor Jace Byers was born. Unfortunately, the Mom's were still 3 hours away, they got to the Hospital around 3am.

I still remember that little frail cry of his. What a blessing he is and I am still shocked that I'm writing this all....a year later!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little peanut!!! We Love You so much!

1st (of two) Birthday Party!!!

This 4th of July Weekend we got to spend with family and friends in Albuquerque. We also got to celebrate Conor's 1st Birthday with our family...even though his birthday isn't until this Friday! So, Conor is lucky, because he gets to have cake again this coming weekend, when we have a small party back home in Phoenix!

Here are some great pictures for you to enjoy! Such a happy baby boy...I mean little boy!

Yummy!!

Good stuff, couldn't believe he left his hat on the entire time!