Gymboree

We were in Tampa this weekend to help Courtney celebrate her 1st birthday! Her party was held at Gymboree, an indoor activity center for kids. Connor had never been as they don't have one here in Orlando so we were really excited to bring him. Plus he would get to see all of his Tampa buddies - Ava, Courtney, Andrew, Chelsea, Kaylee and Kate. I don't know if it was all the kids, the crazy clowns everywhere or the class leaders "opera talk" (she sang her instructions to the kids) but Connor was all but thrilled to participate. He still had a lot of fun but on his own terms. After the kids played we did cake which is always fun at a first birthday party...and I have to admit, Connor loves cake :)

We hung out over at the Peper/Fussell household afterwards. Jen and Jonathan came over for a little while. Jen is Courtney's mom and they happen to share their birthday with one another. Jimmy came by later and we even got a visit from Aunt Nancy and her friend Lindsay. Seeing as how late it was they didn't get to see Connor so we made a quick visit to her house this afternoon before we left town. It's always fun to see all of my Tampa crew. Happy Birthday to Jen and Courtney, thanks for inviting us to help you celebrate!

Pictures from Gymboree: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EcOGzJm3cNxU

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! We spent our long weekend in Cape Haze visiting with Grandma, Papa and Aunt Nancy. The weather was crummy but it was also kind of nice to have an excuse to do absolutely nothing for a change. Mommy and Daddy got to do a lot of relaxing while Connor played his aunt and grandparents. John and I went to a minor league baseball game with Jeremy and Danielle Saturday night where we cheered on the Stone Crabs. It was raining for most of the game but we had the opportunity to sit up in a box so we didn’t get too wet. They had a nice firework display after the game, though it was so humid and wet the smoke just hung around the sky and made it hard to see them. By Sunday we were already tired of being cooped up in the house all day. As soon as the rain stopped we all piled up in the car and took a little trip to Laishley Park in Punta Gorda. It is right on the water and was the location of the city’s fireworks that night so they had all kinds of booths and entrainment setup. We went to a bar atop a hotel for a drink to check out the view. Afterwards we ate at the Crab House, a restaurant on the water. We had great timing because as soon as we left it started pouring again. Luckily the rain stopped again at sunset and didn’t spoil everyone’s fireworks for the evening. We could hear the fireworks going off all around us that night, as we have every night since then! Other than that we laid low at the house. Grandma and Papa spoiled Connor to death. In addition to the boxes and boxes of poppers they also got him a toy train for him to play with. He also wore Grandma out wanting to be pushed around in a plastic tub he liked to climb into.

We don’t have any plans this weekend but we’ll be traveling again to Tampa next weekend. We’re going over to help Courtney celebrate her 1st birthday (and her Mommy’s birthday too!). Please enjoy some pictures from our weekend:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EcOGzJm3cNwy

16 Months Old!

Connor is 16 months old today! I just thought I’d give everyone a little update on his development. His vocabulary seems to increase by the day now. He is very good at communicating what he wants, with or without words. He shakes his head No and Yes if you ask him a question. Some of his newer words include duck (uck), baby (bay-beeee), bubble, Jackson (akson), Zoey (oh-e), yum, water (wa) and banana (nana). He also does a couple animal sounds - dog (woof) and cow (moo) – so cute! Anything we say he tries to repeat, but these are the words he’s picked up on and says regularly.

He’s been teething like crazy lately, which is good as it seemed like he had the same 5 teeth forever. While teething doesn’t seem to bother a lot of kids, this isn’t the case with Connor. He got his first molar a couple of weeks ago and that was not fun. That along with 2 other teeth coming in at the same time made for one whiney baby.

We still have a good eater. Connor eats a ton of food. I am really not exaggerating. People comment on it all the time. He loves to eat and eats a lot! If this boy even sees a banana he goes crazy, absolutely loves them. He’d probably eat them all day long if I let him. We know how bad his molar was bothering him because he wouldn’t eat anything but soft food for a couple of days (think yogurt, bananas). Connor always eats, even when he’s sick so we knew his teethies must really be hurting for him to turn away food. He’s also started biting on his crib railing in the mornings. He is now tall enough that his mouth is at the perfect level with the rail for him to chomp down on and it must feel good because he keeps doing it! We put a teething ring in his crib but he likes to wear it as a bracelet instead of using it to chew on. As soon as he wakes up we see him (in the monitor) put the ring on his wrist – so funny!

We’re having the best time with him, he gets easier and more fun with every week that passes by. We hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th!!