Another Weekend Here and Gone

The weekends just seem to fly by!  But I also told Korey the other day that I felt like the weeks have been going by quickly lately too!  Maybe we're just keeping busy which is always a good thing!

This weekend Konnor's Great Grandma and Grandpa Witt came to visit us!  We were super happy and excited to see them!  They got here on Saturday evening.  We spent the morning cleaning the house and Korey mowed the grass and took care of the yard stuff!  As soon as they arrived we gave them a tour of the house and they were brave enough to try what we had made for dinner.  It was a new recipe I had found online for some turkey meatballs!  They actually turned out to be very good.  Konnor definitely enjoyed having meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner!  He even tried a ginger snap cookie for dessert!

Of course since it was the weekend AND we had visitors, we had to go to Kilby Cream for some delicious ice cream after dinner!
On Sunday Konnor decided to take a 3 hour nap in the morning so we just relaxed around the house until he woke up.  Once he was up and ready to go, we decided to drive to Port Deposit and see if there were any restaurants to try.  We found a nice one and sat outside on their deck.  The food was pretty good, and Konnor enjoyed sharing Korey's mashed sweet potatoes!

After lunch we headed to Havre de Grace to go down to the promenade and check out the water.  Konnor loved staring out at the water with his Great Grandpa.  I think he wished he could've gotten in the water.  Hopefully some day we can live closer to a beach again!

We had a wonderful weekend!  We love having visitors, and Konnor can't wait to see his Great Grandma and Grandpa Witt again!  Next weekend we are heading to Brookville for Labor Day Weekend!  I'm sure the week will go fast and the weekend will be here before we know it!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend also!

In the blink of an eye

That's about how fast Konnor went from just army crawling to crawling around on his hands and knees like a big boy.  He's been army crawling for awhile and occasionally would get up on his hands and knees and go forward a little bit but he would pretty quickly give up and go back to the army crawl.  That all changed last night.  He likes to throw his ball or soft blocks and crawl after them, and last night he just decided he'd give up the army crawl and crawl after them on his hands and knees.  Now he just crawls all over.  Also last night, as if crawling wasn't enough, he decided to pull himself up on everything he could.  Before last night he had really only ever pulled himself up to his knees, but not to a standing position. So I guess last night he just decided to debut all his new skills at once and show off a little!  We were very impressed of course and let him know how much we loved him and all his new talents!
Today we had a busy day!  Konnor and I took Bella to get groomed at Petsmart in a town about 30 minutes away.  After we dropped Bella off, we bought some dog food and when we got out to the car I realized my cell phone was missing.  I looked all over the car, in my purse, in the diaper bag, and I even went back to check the cart we had used to make sure I didn't leave it in there.  No luck.  After searching the car a second time and apologizing to Konnor that unfortunately this will probably occur several more times throughout his life, we went back in the store to see if anyone had found a cell phone.  I was convinced I would have heard it drop in the store if I lost it in there.  But of course I was wrong and someone had found it and thankfully given it to an employee.  So after our almost disastrous start to the day, we got on with the rest of our errands.  We went to Target to get some more curtains for our library/office.  Originally we only bought one curtain for each window to see how it would look.  We both decided it would look better with two curtains per window so we went back today to buy two more!  I like them!

Next we went to Babies R Us to get some diapers!  They had a great sale on the big boxes of diapers and we couldn't pass that up!  They were already $9 off, and if you bought two boxes you got a $10 gift card, plus I had a $5 off coupon so I was pretty happy!  After our diaper shopping, we took a mini break in the car to have a bottle and some yogurt! Then we stopped quickly in Michaels to buy a scrapbook.  I'm hoping to make a scrapbook for Konnor for each year.  Obviously I'm already 9 months behind and probably should've started awhile ago, but it's never too late right?!  Once again I was happy with my Michaels purchase because you can look up Michaels coupons on your phone and they almost always have a 40% off one item coupon!  Konnor must not have been too impressed with Michaels, he almost immediately fell asleep.  Since Konnor was asleep, I headed over to Barnes and Noble to look at books.  I bought Konnor the book Little Blue Truck Leads The Way.  Our friend Sarah, bought Konnor the book Little Blue Truck, and we love it.  We read it almost every night.  Konnor loves to turn the pages and smiles at the end when we say "Beep Beep Beep".  It's also one of the few books Korey and I enjoy reading and aren't getting sick of yet!  We are going to save the new book until his birthday though! After book shopping, I could not leave without getting a drink from Starbucks and then we picked Bella up and headed home!
Usually our weeks are pretty laid back and we just go for walks around the town and crawl all over the house, so today was a pretty eventful day for us! :)  We're hoping to sign Konnor up for a program they have at the library for children his age, and to get him in to some "mommy and me" swim classes after the holidays.  That will make our weeks a little more exciting and keep Konnor entertained once he gets more mobile and the weather gets colder.
I hope everyone else is having a great week!  I can't believe the week is already half over.  Not sure what we will do this weekend, but Konnor's Great Grandma and Grandpa Witt are coming to visit so we should have a fun time!

Konnor and his best buddy Chloe taking a nap together

Bella all nice and groomed!

Konnor standing up and playing with his blocks

Random Thoughts

Konnor and I went on a long walk today, and while we were out strolling around I thought about a lot of different things (I'm sure Konnor did too)!  This truly is a random post so just be warned before you start reading!
One of the things I was thinking about was traveling of course!  I'm always thinking about traveling and where we want to go, how we will save money to go, when we will go... and on and on.  What started me thinking about it today though was the fact that my sister is on a little vacation with her boyfriend in Arizona to visit a friend and she has been sending me lots of great pictures!  I've never been there so of course I started thinking about how I needed to go there some day and also about vacations and traveling in general!  I was thinking about how there are so many places I want to go for myself, but there are also so many places I hope to be able to take Konnor (and any other future children) some day.  I can't wait to plan vacations with him in mind and to see how excited he gets when we go on them.  Growing up I got to go on a vacation pretty much every year.  I of course requested going to the beach and Disney World a lot!  We did go to some different beaches and there were trips to Disney, but we went to other places as well!  I loved knowing that every summer we would get to go somewhere!  I hope that we are able to do that for Konnor and that he has as much fun and remembers his vacations some day as fondly as I do! 
I'm sure my parents remember vacations a little differently than I do!  As I'm learning now that we have Konnor, there is a lot more planning, packing, stress, money, and more involved in going on a vacation with children.  Even though I know it can be more difficult and more expensive I really hope that Korey and I continue to vacation and to take Konnor on trips at least once a year!
The next thing I was thinking about as I was walking around our little town was how I really really hope that we are able to move somewhere else in the next 5 years or so.  I know some people enjoy living in a small town, but I just don't think its for us anymore.  We grew up in a small town, and I didn't have a bad childhood or anything and I don't even think I realized our town was small until I moved away.  But after living in areas with cities near by that have shopping, eating, festivals, and so many outdoor activities, its just hard to go back to living in a town that has only a McDonalds and a Big Lots to choose from!  There are definitely more shopping choices not TOO far away.  About a half hour drive away there is a mall and Starbucks and more restaurants but it's just not the same.  I know that getting used to a new area can take some time, but I just don't think this area is the right fit for us!  Luckily Korey and I are on the same page and have goals for our future in mind and in the mean time we have been trying hard to find festivals and new restaurants and outdoor places to check out.
Another random thought that then popped in to my head was that I need to STOP watching so much television and read more again!  Konnor takes at least two naps a day.  I usually workout during one of his naps, but during the other one I should be reading more instead of sitting down on the couch and watching TV.  I got a library card here and I've checked out a few books, but I already had to renew them because I didn't finish them in time.  Which isn't the end of the world, but I used to read so many more books than I do now!  So I really want to try and get better at turning the TV off and reading some of the million books I have on my "to-read" list.  I'm always open for suggestions!
Next on my random thoughts was Pinterest!  I love pinning crafts and meals and lots of other things on pinterest, but I rarely ever make any of the crafts or meals or do any of the other things I pin.  Yes half the fun is just looking at what people pin and pinning stuff yourself, but I want to actually start trying to make more of the things I pin.  I have in the last month been a little better about trying some of the recipes that I have pinned, and for the most part they have been a success.  A lot of the times I make a meal from pinterest, it turns out to be something I would definitely make again.  I just need to keep trying new meals and maybe venture into making some of the crafts, or trying out some of the ideas about organizing/cleaning.
I think the last thing I really thought about was taking more photographs.  I take pictures of Konnor and sometimes I remember to take pictures while we are out doing things, but I feel like I need to get better at this.  I got a really nice camera a few years ago for my birthday and I'm not using it as much as I should.  I don't want to try and be a professional photographer or anything.  I know I don't have the eye or creativity at that level to actually get paid to take pictures for others.  But I do want to at least try to be more creative, and to remember to take more pictures of not just Konnor, but of myself, and Korey, the dogs, and anything else I find interesting.  Sometimes I actually remember to take my camera with me and I realize that the batteries are dead, or I don't have a memory card in it (Sadly this has happened more times than I'd like to admit).  Thankfully I always at least have my Iphone on me.  I also love taking pictures with my Iphone, but the pictures add up too quick and I run out of room on my phone frequently. 
Well as you can see it was a productive walk!  Hopefully Konnor got a lot of thinking time in also!  Some day I'll be able to ask him what he thought about on our walks.  But for now I'm just happy watching him look at everything and chew on his toys while we stroll.
Sorry this ended up being a long post about nothing really, but I warned you in the beginning that it was just a bunch of randomness! :)

9 months

It's hard to believe that Konnor is now 9 months old.  November 10th will be here before we know it and he will be one!  It's crazy to think that much time has passed already.  I was thinking about it the other day and I wrote down some things we've learned in the last 9 months...

• Giving birth is HARD.. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done.  (It was even worse than student teaching was for me... and for those of you who know me, student teaching made me crazy!)
• You can survive on very little sleep (Korey already knew this from being in the Navy).  I love sleep, but i've learned to catch up by taking naps and to enjoy my time awake in the middle of the night with Konnor.
• Talking about poop color, consistency, regularity and so on becomes a normal conversation with your significant other and other moms!
• Leaving the house requires a lot more planning (For me this means I usually have to run back into the house a couple more times than I already used to)!
• Car seats/car rides may be your best friend one week and your worst enemy the next!
• The month sizes listed on kids clothing mean nothing.  Every kid is so different.  Konnor has been wearing 12 month stuff since he was about 7 months old and he now wears 12-18mo for most things.
• Books on parenting can be EVIL!  There are so many books out there on how to raise your child, how to put them to sleep, what to feed them when and on and on.  Some books can be helpful but for the most part I've found they just confuse me more or make me feel like a horrible parent.  For every book out there on one method of doing something, there is another book telling you that method is wrong.
• Dishes Dishes and MORE dishes!  Every day I feel like I wash bottles, spoons and food containers over and over and over again.  I should not complain about the bottle washing though.  As most of you know for the first 6 months Konnor refused to take a bottle.  This was hard because it meant I really couldn't leave the house for too long and Korey was sad he didn't get the chance to feed Konnor.  Somewhere around 7 months though Konnor decided bottles weren't evil and he just started drinking from them.  Korey now gets to feed Konnor and I get to wash bottles all day long!
• Time flies!  There are always times in life where I've felt like it was just flying by, but now it feels like that all the time!  Konnor changes so much every day and it's so fun to watch him grow, but I really wouldn't mind if he slowed down just a little!
• And finally... Being a parent is the BEST feeling in the world.  Korey and I always knew we wanted to have kids.  Because he was in the Navy and working/gone often the first few years we were married we decided we would wait to have kids.  Then after waiting awhile it seemed to take us FOREVER to finally get pregnant.  All that doesn't matter now though.  We have Konnor and we could not be happier!

I'm sure there are a million other things we have learned that I didn't get to this time, but this is a pretty good list for now.  I'll leave you with just a few pictures of Konnor over the past 9 months!

Weekend

Weekends go by too fast!!  It's not super sad that they go fast since I don't have to go to work on Monday, but now that Korey is actually home on the weekends its a little sad when he has to go back to work!  Either way we had a good weekend hanging out around the house, playing with Konnor, and being a little lazy!
Saturday we spent the day at home watching some True Blood, hanging out on the floor with Konnor, working out, and ordering some Pizza for dinner.

 As you can tell from the pictures, Konnor had a pretty lazy Saturday also.  He enjoyed some bananas in the morning, some lounging on the floor, followed by some iphone eating, and drum playing, and then decided it was time for a nap! 
Sunday was pretty much the same as Saturday except we actually accomplished a few things around the house.  The windows in our dining room were super dirty and the blinds were broken and wouldn't open when we moved in.  So today we cleaned out all the windows and Korey figured out how to fix all the blinds so they can now be opened!  Other than that Korey went for a bike ride and got a haircut and we made some dinner on the grill and did lots of laundry! Oh and while Konnor napped, Korey and I decided to get some sun out on the deck so we would be prepared for Jamaica!  It was a nice relaxing weekend.  Maybe next weekend we will get some more stuff around the house done AND actually leave the house to go do something :)
It's not so bad staying at home though when you have this little guy to hang out with...

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too! Maybe our week will be a little more exciting than the weekend was :)