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!

4th of July weekend

It's just a little late as usual :). This year we decided to stay home for the 4th. Korey had Friday off so we enjoyed a nice long weekend together. Friday was pretty much a lazy day. We didn't really get to sleep in thanks to Konnor but we stretched out the morning a little longer by all watching a Mickey Mouse episode in bed. Then we pretty much hung out at the house playing with Konnor and just relaxing. I'm pretty sure Korey mowed the grass or changed my cars oil or did some chore at some point because he doesn't have the ability to just be lazy all day :)

Friday night we planned to make a fire in the backyard and have s'mores after Konnor went to sleep. I got Konnor asleep, Korey got the fire started and about fifteen minutes later Konnor woke up. I had his window open and the combination of fireworks and Chloe barking because of the fireworks woke him up. Fortunately I got him back to sleep pretty quickly and got to stuff my face with more s'mores than I probably should have :)

Saturday I planned a surprise for Korey and took him to Lums Pond State Park. We got some Chipotle and Starbucks to go and had lunch at the park and then walked around the pond and let Konnor run around the playground. It was a nice afternoon. 

Sunday we got some stuff done around the house and went to the YMCA to swim laps. We took turns swimming laps and playing with Konnor. Konnor seems to like our Sunday swim days and I'm just happy he loves being in the water so much!

Hope everyone else had a great 4th of July weekend too!

Everyone's having babies and going on vacations

It seems like all of our friends are either pregnant, just had beautiful new babies, or are going on vacation!  

Summer is definitely the time most people go on vacations so I shouldn't be surprised. We however have planned all our trips for the Fall so right now I can't help being a little jealous of all the fun vacation pictures I see on Facebook.  It also stinks that we basically lived in a vacation destination for a couple years and now live in a small town that literally smelled like cow poop when I walked out the door today. 

As far as the babies go, I don't know if that many of our friends are expecting and just becoming parents or if I'm just getting baby fever!  Seeing all the baby pictures definitely makes me think more about having another one. But then there are nights like tonight where it is now midnight and Konnor has been awake for an hour already with no signs of going back to sleep anytime soon and I think I'm crazy for ever even thinking about having another child. I would never sleep!!!  Konnor finally slept through the night for 8 days straight. It was a miracle. Then he got a cold and has been waking up again for the past two nights. I knew it was too good to be true!  

Anyway...even if I am a little jealous of all the vacations and I get a little baby crazy now and then, I still enjoy all the pictures so keep them coming!!

8 years

On Monday Korey and I celebrated 8 years of being married!  8 years??? It's crazy that it's been 8 years already. It's even crazier that we've been together for 15 years!!  I still remember the day he chased me down the hall in high school and asked me out.  I feel very lucky that we found each other so early and that we've gotten to share so many experiences with each other already! 

 

So far together we have lived in 5 different states, rented several apartments and houses, bought our first house, got two crazy dogs, had our wonderful son Konnor, made some important job changing decision, visited several countries and states, ran a couple half marathons and triathlons, made amazing friends, and so much more. Korey is still my best friend after all this time. He knows everything about me and whenever something happens good or bad he is the first person I want to tell about it!

Things have definitely changed over the years but we've learned to change together and to go with the flow.  We used to be able to go out together whenever we wanted but now it's not that easy to go do something just the two of us. We try and take every opportunity we have to go out together but we also enjoy hanging out at home together after Konnor's asleep just catching up on TV, movies, talking, and sometimes playing a game. 

Having a child is WONDERFUL...but it can also be stressful. There are definitely those nights when Konnor wakes up and stays awake for hours where Korey and I in our sleep deprived state end up mad at each other over crazy stuff. Despite those times, we really enjoy being parents. I love seeing Konnor get excited when Korey gets home from work and how excited Korey gets every time Konnor says Daddy!  I also appreciate how Korey never makes me feel anything less than an amazing mother. Even in moments when I feel like I'm failing miserably, he is always the one to tell me that I'm doing a good job. 

8 years...so much has happened and I can't wait to spend several more years together and see what other adventures are in store for us!  Love you Korey! Happy Anniversary!  Thanks for always being there for me!

19 Months

So far my goal of trying to write more is definitely not being achieved! :)  Konnor keeps us pretty busy most days!  He's always on the go and it's a rare moment if he actually sits down for more than 5 minutes.  I purchased a coloring book for him the other day, and he will at least sit and color with me for 10-15 minutes which is nice (As you can see I also have been coloring haha)!

He loves to talk and one day when I was curious I started writing down all the words he has said, and discovered he says over 100 different words!  He's always trying to tell us something!  We love hearing him talk.  All day long I hear "where daddy go"  "where bella go"  "where chloe go" haha. 
The canine teeth are almost completely in (YAY!!) so he has been sleeping better.  He still has nights where he wakes up and decides he's going to stay up for 2 hours, but they don't happen as often as they used to!
He loves his shoes.  He always wants to be wearing his shoes.  He brings me his shoes every day and wants me to put them on.  His one pair definitely smells awful because he wears them so much without socks.  I must have told them they were stinky one too many times though, because now every time he brings them to me he smells them and says "stinky"!

Always wearing our shoes!

Last weekend Korey and I got the chance to go to NYC with my sister Courtney and her boyfriend Matt.  We went to the 9/11 Memorial which was sad, but definitely worth visiting.  Korey and I went to see Of Mice and Men and LOVED it!  Chris O'Dowd was wonderful and of course we stuck around afterwards so I could get an autograph from James Franco!  I love trips to NYC and it's nice now that we are not too far away!  Hopefully we can go again some time soon and see some more shows!

Also while we were in NYC we decided on Sunday morning that we should try to get a cronut!  Courtney and I had both heard about them from watching Jimmy Fallon.  We knew there are usually huge lines for them, but figured that since its been awhile since they first came out that maybe we would get lucky.  We definitely got lucky... really lucky.  When we got there we hurried into the cronut line and I got super excited that we were going to get one.  Almost immediately someone came over to the line and told everyone that they only had so many cronuts left and they couldn't guarantee that everyone in line would get one.  Ugh!  The three girls in front of us left the line but we decided to stick around.  It didn't take long until we were the next people in line to order, and then a woman at the door yells "YES!!!! We got the Last Cronut!!!" and we see them take the last box out of the display case and hand it to the woman in front of us. BUT lucky us, they bring one last box over, and Korey asks if they have any cronuts left and they tell him only one more and we get it!  We had to share it with Courtney and Matt of course but that's okay!  It was definitely worth hanging out in line for a little bit and we got a couple other pastries also that were delicious!  Next time we are in NYC we might have to go back to Dominique Ansel Bakery and get another one :)

We've now been living in our new house for over a year.  We're slowly painting and doing some other things to the house.  We are still really happy with our house and are having fun picking paint colors and trying to think of some little projects we can do here and there.  Unfortunately we are also still not in love with the area we live in.  Going to places like Washing DC and NYC on some weekends is helping us like it a little more, but it still doesn't change the fact that we don't have as much stuff to do in the area as we are used to and would like.  I thought maybe summer would make it a little better, and it has to some extent.  I love being able to get outside with Konnor and the sunshine and warm weather makes me happy, but it also makes me miss living close to a beach, and there just aren't as many places to go for safe fun walks with Konnor around here.  Hopefully some day we will be able to move back to where we really want to be, but until then we will definitely keep trying to find things to do around here, and we'll keep working on the house.
Hope everyone is enjoying the nicer weather, and maybe I'll remember to post something again before another month goes by.