22 and 23 months

Of course I'm behind!  Not a big surprise I'm sure 😄.  Konnor's language is still expanding and we love listening every day to see what he will say and do next. One of my favorites is when he goes over to the pantry, opens the door and says "hmmmm let's think" and then asks for some kind of snack. It's even better when he puts his hand on his hips or his finger to his lips as he "thinks". 

He is still a fan of Mickey Mouse but he also likes watching Chuggington and sometimes Jake and the Neverland Pirates. We decided to let him be Jake the pirate for Halloween. If you ask Konnor what a pirate says he will tell you "ho ho ho" (might be a little confusing at Christmastime haha). It's also fun to have him say "ahoy matey" and "walk the plank". He's definitely very good at repeating anything you say!  

He likes to sing and if he hears singing on tv he sometimes will join in even if he doesn't really know what they are singing. When we stayed with our friends in Charleston they sang a prayer before meals and Konnor picked up on it and loved it, so we now sing the prayer before meals also. Along with singing he sometimes likes to dance too. He will hit the button on his piano that plays music and then come say "money dance" or "daddy dance". And no I did not type that wrong.  I am still called "money" instead of "mommy" even though if you ask him to say "mommy" he is definitely able to.  I'm okay with it though. It's cute and some day he will grow up and who knows what he will call me so I'll take being called "money" by our sweet little boy as long as he wants. 

Konnor also still loves books. We read before nap time and bedtime and any other time he asks. He has certain books he likes more than others and we try to go to the library at least once a week to switch out books so he has the chance to experience a lot of different books. I'm so glad he loves listening to us read and that he picks up books and is now starting to remember some of them and "read" them himself. 

He still LOVES trucks, cars and trains. Basically anything with wheels. Even of something isn't a truck he will try to make it into one and he will push it around saying "beep beep" and "coming through".  He enjoys playing with play dough, stickers and coloring with crayons. Watching him play is so fun. It's great to see how excited he gets over everything. I'm getting very excited for our trip to Disney next month. I can't wait to see how he reacts to seeing characters and riding the rides!!

Hopefully everyone is staying warm as it starts to get cooler out. Maybe I'll actually post again before Konnor turns 2!!

Vacation

Fall is here and we finally got to go on a couple of our vacations we had planned! Our first trip was up to Maine!  Korey competed in the Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon there and did a great job!  Konnor had fun cheering for his daddy "run daddy" and he enjoyed rearranging the pumpkins they had set up. We also got to spend some time with all our great friends up there.  We miss all of them and we appreciate that every time we go up to visit they go out of there way to make sure they get to see us and spend time with us!  The only bad thing about this trip was that it was too short!  

Our second trip was to Charleston. Anyone who knows me, knows that Charleston is my favorite place we have lived. It was wonderful to go back there for a week. We went back for our friends wedding and decided to make a week trip out of it. Korey and Konnor were both in the wedding. Konnor did his job of walking down the aisle much better than I thought he would :). The wedding was beautiful and we had a wonderful time hanging out and talking with all our friends after the wedding. The rest of the week we tried to squeeze in all the stuff we wanted to do. We went shopping, walked around downtown, went to the beach, ate at some of our favorite restaurants, went to the aquarium and spent as much time as we could with our friends. Visiting Charleston again just made me realize even more how much I want to move back there and how much I really do not love the area we live in. Hopefully some day we can make it happen!

I must say that after both trips I'm pretty confident saying that Konnor is definitely a beach lover. It makes me so happy!  He doesn't mind sunscreen and he loves chasing birds and running into the ocean! I think it means we are meant to live by the ocean!!

Going back to both Maine and Charleston also makes me realize how many truly wonderful friends we have made in all the places we have lived.  We always have someone to stay with when we visit both places and we always have lots of people to see and spend time with.  We are fortunate to have so many friends from all over!

One more vacation to go in November!  Disney World here we come!!!!

21 months

More like 21 1/2 at this point :). I'm behind as usual. The past month hasn't been too eventful for us. A lot of training for triathlons and half marathons and Korey actually competed in his first triathlon of the two he is doing.  He did great and I have no idea how people can swim, bike and still manage to run at the end. I honestly don't know if I could do it!!

Konnor's language is still exploding and we love it. He will pretty much repeat anything we say (which means we have to be very careful). His vocabulary amazes me. I could listen to him talk all day long (and I usually get to haha). 

The other day we heard the music from the ice cream truck while we were in the living room and his eyes got real big and he yelled "ice cream truck" and ran to the front windows to look out and said "there it is". He then proceeded to get upset as the ice cream truck drive out if sight because he couldn't see it anymore haha. The toddlers days are definitely upon us. He's starting to test his boundaries and find out what he can get away with and what he can't!

He still loves books which makes me happy. He will disappear upstairs and come back down carrying a book saying "story time". He also has favorite books and will ask for us to read them. We got the book Move Over Rover from the library and I love hearing him say "move over rover" all jumbled up :). It's a cute book that we may have to add to our collection. 

He still likes Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is pretty much the only thing he watches now when we have the tv on. I really really hope he enjoys our trip to Disney in November!

My favorite season is...

This used to be an easy question to answer. Anytime anyone asked me, I would quickly say "Summer"!  I still love Summer but lately I find myself thinking about Fall a lot and getting very excited every time I do. 

When we were younger, Summer was a break from school and it meant vacations, staying out late to play flashlight tag, catching fireflies, swimming and all that fun stuff. Even after I grew up I still loved Summer. When I worked in schools I had the summers off and when I worked at daycares summers usually meant less kids because some parents were teachers or people were always out on vacations. When Korey was in the Navy summers were also great because we always lived near a beach.  Maybe my love for Summer dwindled a little this year because we are now at least two hours from the beach, Konnor can't really be outside too long when it's really hot out, we still haven't met many people around where we live, and we didn't go on any vacations during the Summer.  

Whatever the reason is, it's at least nice to know that I am really looking forward to the Fall for once. I used to dread the Fall. I used to get that sinking feeling when I saw all the Back to School stuff in the stores. I didn't necessarily dislike school but I never loved getting up early and I never wanted summer and all the fun to end!  This year though I'm excited to decorate for Fall, have pumpkin spice lattes, wear sweaters, take Konnor trick or treating, go on our vacations, watch football, go apple picking and all the other great things that happen in the Fall!

Hopefully I will love Summer again some day as much as I used to. Maybe when Konnor gets a little older and wants to catch fireflies and can stay outside a little longer in the heat. Or maybe when we move back closer to the beach some day!  But for now I will embrace my love for Fall and I will continue to dread Winter!

Goodbye pack 'n play

Last week Konnor and I went to visit family and friends. We got to stay at both grandparents and see some friends!  Korey joined us on the weekend.  In the past when we travel we have always used the pack 'n play for Konnor to sleep in.  The last time we used it he woke up frequently and ended up sleeping with us, so I knew the time was coming where we would no longer be able to use it as our travel bed. I brought it with me hoping miraculously it would work and he would sleep great in it again but it did not work and he slept terrible!!!  The first night he woke up about 15 minutes after I put him in it. I let him sleep with me after that and he slept great for a couple hours while I slept crappy as he tossed and turned and used me as a pillow and also kicked me several times.  After being kicked one too many times I attempted putting him in the pack 'n play again but he immediately woke up. Thankfully though he pretty much fell asleep again with me and didn't move much til morning. 

I wasn't sure what to use as a bed for him for the rest of the week. There wasn't an extra bed for him, he moves around too much to share the bed with anyone, and the idea of an air mattress scared me a little because I didn't know what he would do with the freedom of not being contained in something when he woke up.  Without many options to choose from, I went with the air mattress. 

The first night went pretty well. He only woke up once and I heard him and got him back to sleep and he slept until the morning when I heard him again and got him before he wandered off. The second night he slept through the night which was wonderful. What wasn't wonderful though was me waking up to him crying at the bottom of the first set of stairs (he went feet first on his belly down only 4 stairs so he was okay but he scared himself).  I have no idea how I did not hear him wake up and leave the room but somehow he managed to sneak out. The next night I of course blocked the door, but I also woke up any time he moved at all!!

When we moved to the other grandparents house he had problems staying on the air mattress for some reason. Same air mattress as before but all of a sudden he kept rolling off it. He never woke up when this happened but one night I woke up 3 different times to find him sleeping on the floor. 

I don't know if the air mattress is the perfect solution but for now it's what we are going with. We have a lot of traveling coming up in the next few months so hopefully we get a little better at sleeping on the air mattress or we will just be exhausted during our vacations :) 

20 months

Even though by now we are half way to 21 months, I figured I would still do a 20 month post!  

For a couple weeks in a row Konnor slept through the night and it was glorious. I could not have been happier. Before that stretch it had been FOREVER since he consistently slept through the night. I enjoyed every minute of my unbroken sleep. Then the 2 year molars decided to show up. Like all the teeth that have come before them I'm sure they will take their good sweet time making their appearance. He has been back to waking up most nights and staying awake anywhere from 1-3 hours. He still occasionally sleeps through the night but those nights are once again rare. Tonight we have been up for 2 hours already and I do not see sleep happening any time soon. 

Konnor's vocabulary is still growing every single day. He likes to repeat what we say now which can be very funny and also means we have to be more careful about what we say. I love when we say "hey buddy" to him and he echoes back "hey buddy". Some days he surprises us and says words we didn't even know he knew. Like the day he saw a violin on tv and said "viowin". 

We still try not to watch a ton of tv. Well I should rephrase that and say we try not to let Konnor watch a ton. I on the other hand watch too much tv I'm sure.  He really only pays attention to a few shows. He's slowly expanding. At first he only watched yo gabba gabba. Then he moved on to Little Einsteins (I'm positive we have every episode on the dvr) He still likes Little Einsteins but his new favorite is Micky Mouse Clubhouse. He now also calls "hey Toodles" throughout the day (you'd have to watch the show to understand) and we occasionally catch him singing "diggity dog" (also from the show). 

He is still a busy busy boy and always wants to be on the go. Most days I end up chasing him around the house at least 20 times.  Thank goodness Chloe also likes to chase him around the house when he has her ball. I'd like to say they tire each other out, but if you know Konnor or Chloe then you know neither of them ever gets tired out :) He is constantly telling us "walk" when we go places and he hates being in his stroller or shopping carts. This stage where he knows how to walk but not how to stay with us or when to stand still while I put food in the cart makes it difficult. We try and let him walk as much as possible and usually have to bribe him with food to sit in the cart or stroller.  

Of course this wouldn't be a month post if I don't at least say once that time is flying!  Hard to believe that shortly he will be 2 years old!  Every day is truly a ton of fun even when I'm wrestling him into his car seat or watching him spill my drink all over the floor.  I could do without teething but other than that I'd say we are good!  

We have some busy months ahead of us in the Fall and a lot of things to look forward too!  Hopefully Konnor will enjoy them all!