He Can Stop Walking Now

Things are different than I thought they would be with Conner walking. I would be fine if he went back to crawling. He has gotten so hurt this last week. He was walking around in my parent's basement and he went to put his hands on the coffee table but had already planted his feet so his hands couldn't reach the table and he fell hard on the edge of the coffee table with his forehead. It immediately went a bluish color it was close to bleeding. Poor thing. Then a couple of hours later he tripped on my dad's shoe and hit his ear on the edge of a glass table. I have hit my ear before really hard and it turned red but man did it hurt and mine didn't even bruise. When Conner hit his ear it took him what seemed like forever to take a breath. This is what his ear looked like two days later.

Then they day after this happened we were at Kohl's and Conner was walking around carrying a pair of pants, he tripped over them and landed on his forehead on the floor.
He got another bump.
Today at church he just wanted to walk around. He would fuss when I tried to keep him from leaving the bench. He definitely knows what he wants. Another thing that happened when we were at Kohl's was Conner and I were walking down the aisle holding hands and he decided that he wanted to go look at something. He pulls his hand out of mine and starts going for it. I grab his hand again but he pulled away again. I finally had to pick him up and carry him. I didn't know that once he started walking he would get this confidence that makes him think he can do anything and that he is such a big boy. I still haven't gotten use to him walking into a room that I am sitting in.
Today I was called to teach CTR 4. I have already been warned about a girl that is in my class that wasn't there today. They said that there is no controlling her, you can't do anything to get her to listen. Oh, joy.

11 Month Birthday!!!

A week ago last Saturday Conner walked around quite a bit, but the rest of the week he pretty much just crawled around. On Sunday, the 7th, which was his 11 month birthday he was around a lot of kids. He started walking around more than ever. He would walk the length of the room over and over. The last two days he has hardly crawled around at all. He isn't a baby anymore. Sunday was the first day that Conner stood up by himself. He didn't have to hold on to anything or anyone. He just stood up in the middle of the room, I was so excited. Conner has two molars coming in, one on each side on the top. This week we have had a lot of fun as a family. Here are some videos and pics of our week.

Conner feeding himself lasagna.

I was watching a show called, Worst Cooks in America, on Food Network. They made a liquid center chocolate torte. On the outside, when made correctly, it looks like a piece of chocolate cake. You can't see the liquid chocolate. As soon as you take that first bite the chocolate runs out. All of mine broke open when I was trying to get them out of the pan. You aren't suppose to see the liquid chocolate, but it was still way good! I will make this again.

Video Time: These are pretty much for my enjoyment. You may find them boring.

I am not comfortable kissing Conner on the lips if you can't tell.

We were given this wagon from my brother and sister-in-law, Kyle and Jenny. He loved it.

Pictures From the Week

As you can tell I really haven't had anything going on in my life. But here are some pictures from the week that I thought were fun. Oh yeah, guess what. Conner spent about 70% of the day walking around. He fell down ALOT but he was back on his feet quickly. We were surprised he suddenly spent so much time walking. Here are some pics from the week.

Conner seems to enjoy standing on his head.

Conner LOVES being outside. As soon as you open the front door he squeals and gets all excited.

Steve thought this was hilarious. Conner was completely relaxed drinking his bottle. He wouldn't even pick his arms up to hold the bottle he just let it rest on his chest.

Random Thoughts

So I like the Harry Potter movies. I am not a fanatic by any means but I enjoy watching them. I thought it would be so fun to have a little Harry Potter party. Where I could make treats and things and name them what they are named in the movie and watch one of the movies. Sound dorky? Kind of, but it also sounds fun.
Conner is slowing gaining confidence with his walking. Yesterday he walked toward me stopped and stood there, then started walking towards me again, stopped, then started again, then fell. He walked a few feet. He is letting go of furniture and walking to another piece of furniture more and more. It is really fun. Church on the other hand is not so fun. We go from 1 to 4. Man, that is such a hard time. Yesterday, we had to wake him up from his nap to go and then he was so fussy during sacrament. I felt like everyone was watching us. I spent most of the time out in the foyer, which didn't help because there was a wheel chair that he just had to have. Steve and I get so worried about forming bad habits right now. We know his is only 10 months but I feel like I should be doing something to prep him. This week we sat on the last cushion bench so there wasn't anyone behind us for him to watch that may have been part of it, as well as getting woken up. Any suggestions on what I should be doing now to help him when he is a little older?

Weekend

We had a really nice weekend. Friday night I wanted to surprise Steve with a fun night so I borrowed my parent's Wii and a Cabela's shooting game that Steve really likes from his brother, Lance. Steve came home from work not feeling the greatest so we ended up not playing. Saturday morning the three of as went for a walk along with Copper. It was freezing, but we bundled up Conner really well. He even kept his beanie and gloves on. Here he is, ready for our walk.He is such a cheeser.

We did have progress this weekend with Conner deciding to walk on his own. On Saturday, he let go of the coffee table at my parents house and took a couple of steps toward me. On Sunday, we were at the Ferguson's and he let go of the couch and walked to me, that was about four steps.
On Sunday whenever music would come on he would start bouncing up and down. He is such a happy boy, so fun to be around.

Girl's Night Out

Wednesday night I had such a fun time with my sister and my mom. We went shopping at Kohl's and out to eat at Chili's. I didn't realize how much I needed to just get out. It was so fun not having to worry about kids or husbands. One thing that I use to do before I had Conner was to sing really loud in the car. Now I don't because I don't want to wake up Conner or make him think that I am upset with how loud I am. It sounds pretty silly but last night driving home without Conner I sang in the car so loud and it was fun. I am the most tone deaf, off tune person you'll ever meet but I enjoyed it. I came home rejuvinated and was able to be a better wife and mom.

Funny Faces

Can anyone explain this to me? Every now and then Conner will flex his whole body so hard and shake his hands and I don't know why. His cousin does it as well. She does it because she can get people to laugh. Conner will do it while playing with his toys or while eating. He doesn't make any noises, he'll just flex everything, pull these faces, shake his fists because he is flexing so hard and then keep on doing what he was doing. Crazy child.

The next two pictures are of Conner and his dad. Conner LOVES Steve. He gets so excited when Steve comes home. Because Steve is dirty when he comes home from work he'll go straight upstairs to shower. Conner will follow him. He'll climb up all the stairs, crawl through our bedroom, push open the bathroom door and stand up next to the tub. It is adorable.

In the picture above Steve would walk while Conner was holding on to him just like he is and Conner would walk with him. It reminded me of when a little girl stands on her dad's feet to dance.
On Saturday Conner took 5 or 6 steps. It was so fun watching him walk toward me. The only time he'll walk is when Steve and I sit on the floor. I think it will still be quite a while till he decides to up and walk by himself.
I am getting so excited for Conner's cupcake party, when he turns one. There is a girl in my ward who is obsessed with cupcakes and has a website dedicated to cupcakes. She has recipes for cupcakes you have never even heard of, like key lime cupcakes, raspberry lemonade cupcakes. I'll post her site under food blogs, it is called Kara's Cupcakes.

10 Months Already

Well Conner has hit double digits, crazy. He really likes mac and cheese, climbing stairs, and splashing in water. He has eight teeth and his canines have looked like they could come through any day for 2 months. He is a great addition to our family and I can't wait to add more.
We bought a box of fruit and Conner crawled over to it and bit into the apple. I went over to supervise and look how much he ended up eating.
Conner got his second hair cut last weekend. He gets so curious about the clippers, which makes it a little difficult for Steve to cut. But he did a great job. The neighbors dog across the street keeps barking and I am trying to put Conner down for a nap so I ended up setting up his pack-n-play in my closet so he could take a nap. Which is probably nice for him because it is dark.Debbie and Garen gave their kids two bunnies for Christmas. This is Conner playing.

Conner Took Two Steps By Himself

Just so you know it takes him 35 seconds to take the steps. He only does it the one time even though the video is three minutes. After seeing myself on this video I am never going to be this chubby again!

Update on Conner

Conner has quite the bug. He has thrown up now for six days and has had diarrhea for six days. He poops water. He has so much pressure with the diarrhea that it shot out the back of his diaper while I was holding him and splattered on the floor. There has been one day this week he didn't throw up. It scares him, he just can't catch his breath. He usually eats 24 oz of formula a day and a lot of regular food. He now eats about 12 oz. a day and nothing else, he is definitely losing weight. If he throws up tomorrow I will take him to the doctor on Monday. He did pee today! It is just so odd, he acts totally normal. He finally started laughing and smiling again yesterday, it was his first time since Sunday. He even played tag today.

New Car Seat (Front Facing)

Although we cannot use it for 2 more months I am so excited to get his car seat. It is awesome, it is a 3 in 1. It is called Nautilus by Graco. We had been looking for car seats and found one that we liked at Wal-Mart for only $57, they had it on display so we put Conner in it. He was too short for it. The "wings" of the chair that offer him support were up higher than he reached, and it started at 30 lbs. Well they only have to be 20 lbs and 1 year to be put forward facing. We looked a little longer and found this one that we ended up buying. It starts at 20 lbs and because it is a 3 in 1 it can hold a child up to 100 lbs once it is in the booster position. Here are some pics.

This is the regular position with a 5 point harness. It has a sippy cup holder and storage in the sides of the arms.

This is the car seat extended.

Then it turns into a booster.

Sick little guy.

What a day, Conner has been so sick. Sunday it started with a cough, then a runny nose on top of the cough. Monday morning he woke up with a bad diaper rash. As the day continued Conner didn't want to eat, he would cough and throw up, he would lay himself down on his stomach on the ground and not move. He was miserable. That night he was up four times. Tuesday started with his diaper leaking out diarrhea. It was up the front of his onsie up to his chest. On his socks, and on his sheets that I had just cleaned the day before. So needless to say he had a bath. After that I managed to get him to eat some applesauce, then we went in the front room to play. He crawled up to me and it was like Niagra Falls. He threw up all over me, more than I ever thought a baby could. So both of us got a shower. The pediatrician's office said to give him pedialyte if he kept throwing up and to keep trying to give him formula. He went down for a nap but when he woke up he had a temperature of 101 and his feet and hands were full on purple. I called the doctor's office again and they said it was normal for his appendiges to turn purple with his temperature. His body is trying to regulate his temperature, just give him Tylenol. I kept trying every now and then to give him formula and eventually he took a whole bottle. Then he started to cough and it all came back up over Conner, the couch, the pillow, blanket and me. Time for Conner's fourth outfit for the day and my third. Poor thing.

Tooth 7

Conner's seventh tooth finally came through. He is becoming quite the chatter box. Last night we had mine and Steve's parents over for dinner. When it came time for Conner to go to bed everyone waved goodnight and then Conner started to wave back. I looked at everyone and said, "Is he waving?" I was so surprised.

Last weekend I made fudge for the first time in my life. I had no idea what it took to make fudge. I thought you mixed ingredients together and chilled it, no, you have to cook it and reach a certain temperature. We were using a candy thermometer and we accidentally dropped it into the bottom of the pan. But I think that it turned out good.

On Sunday a family in our ward invited us to their house for dinner along with another family. There were four kids under the age of 16 months it was so fun. Conner pretty much just observed the other kids. I love when he has the opportunity to get around more kids. Monday night we had the Ferguson family Christmas party and that was a lot of fun. Eleven kids under the age of eight.

One year ago we canceled our Dish Network and decided to not have tv. Well, now that I am home alone all the time and everyone once in a while it would be nice to watch a show. So I surprised Steve with Direct TV. On Tuesday they came and installed it, just in time for the BYU bowl game. We invited mine and Steve's parents over for dinner and to watch the bowl game. It was nice, I made a turkey dinner. It was my second time making a turkey, and I had a heck of a time trying to get that metal bar out from around it's legs. I ended up using some wire cutters to be able to move the legs apart to get everything out.

Above is a picture of Conner with his first present that he has ever opened, it was from Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson and he loves it.

This is him during the opening process. He would get a piece of the paper off and then sit there and play with it.

This is Conner with his cousin, Brigham. They are 3 months apart.

I couldn't live without him.

Two Words, Chef Boyardee

I have been trying to come up with food ideas for Conner when there aren't leftovers from the night before. A couple of months ago we bought chicken nuggets and burritos for Conner. He is about out so it was time to get more food. I went wandering down the soup section and found a couple of things and then turned the corner to find, Chef Boyardee. They have canned macaroni and cheese, mini ravioli's, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, macaroni and ground beef, and more. All canned. So I felt guilty loading my shopping cart, wondering what the people around me thought of me as a mom feeding my child all this canned processed food. But man is it a lifesaver. It is so nice to not have to make a full on meal for Conner. I love being able to just open a can. Even better it takes him a few meals to finish off the can, which makes each meal 20-30 cents. Can't beat that.

So I know I am jumping the gun by two and a half months but I already know what I would like to do for Conner's first birthday. I am going to have a cupcake party. I saw the cutest cupcakes on Picky Palates website. Here is a pic.All she did was make up a yellow cake mix, divided into 5 bowls and died each bowl a different color. Then she plopped some from each bowl into the cupcake pan. Aren't they adorable? I thought I could have different cupcakes and different kinds of frosting for people to choose from. I am so excited. March is also Steve's birthday. He has said that for his birthday he would like the three of us to get away for the weekend, without our phones. We drove through Jackson Hole a few months ago on our way home from Yellowstone and thought it looked so fun. So we thought maybe we could go there. We haven't decided for sure but it will definitely be relaxing.
I keep a couple of toys in Conner's crib so when he wakes up he can keep himself occupied for a while. He does really well with that, you never know what time he actually wakes up. Now when he is awake in his crib he enjoys throwing the toys out of the crib and onto the floor. Funny kid.

9 Month Birthday!

At Conner's doctor appointment on Monday he was prescribed some penicillin. He has had a cold for 3 weeks and the doctor said that one of his ears was pink inside and had some fluid. I guess when a baby is sick that long they usually prescribe an antibiotic to help clear them up. I am so grateful that Conner isn't picky. He hasn't disliked anything that has entered his mouth including medicine. Here are his stats: Length: 28.25"-50%, Weight: 19.6 lbs-50%, and Head Circ: 46 cm. 75%.

He is such an amazing child, very happy. He gets so excited whenever Steve comes home from work. He'll stop what he is doing and crawl to Steve. I am getting so excited about these books that I am making. I am now working on one called, The Princess and the Pea. The book is shaped like a circle (pea). I can't wait to finish it. I am going to start a nursery rhymes book that I am even more excited about. Tonight we have Steve's work party at Goodwood. Yum! This weekend we don't have anything planned which I am very excited about.Conner followed his ball under the Christmas tree.
An empty glue stick is one of his favorite toys.
My precious boys.
Nine month pic.
Two other things, Conner now knows his name. He will turn just about every time you call him. Or maybe is that he knows my voice hmmm? Second he laughs so much when you play peek a boo with him. If you want to get him to smile just play that with him.

Video of Conner "Walking"

I just posted a long post but Conner all of a sudden started walking with this toy. Here is the video.

The other video is of Conner's new trick, shaking his head.

Catch Up Time (It's A Long One) Picture Overload

On November 20th Steve and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. We went out to dinner and to see a movie. My mom gave us a night off and watched Conner, he slept over there for his second sleepover. It was fun to be able to stay out late and not worry about getting Conner to bed. On Thanksgiving day while most people were smelling a wonderful turkey cooking I was smelling antlers being boiled. Yuck! Steve decided that he was finally going to prep all his deer antlers so he could mount them. After that we went to my mom's house for dinner. It was SO good. My sister Debbie tried a new recipe with the sweet potatoes. She got it from the restaurant, Ruth's Chris. They were the best I am going to make them again in a couple months. After dinner my mom, my sister Debbie, both of my grandma's as well as myself put a puzzle together. I love puzzles as long as they aren't too hard. After spending time with my family we then went to Steve's parent's house and visited for a while. On Friday Steve brought home a Christmas tree. We have always cut ours down but I have been wanting a fake one for a while. So Steve surprised me with saying, "I cut down a tree." (From Wal-Mart). Friday night, Debbie and Garen invited us to dinner at the Alpine Country Club. It was really nice and fun to try some new things. It was a buffet with, sushi, crab legs, veal, filet mignon, alligator tail sandwiches, bison, duck, and then your regular stuff, ribs, chicken etc. The dessert bar was unbelievable. On Saturday we went to the BYU game. Steve and I had so much fun with each other. I saw one of my good friends who I hadn't seen in forever, MaRin Andrus. We had two hardcore Ute fans next to us and a group of huge BYU fans on the other side of us. I guess they had been giving each other looks throughout the game and out of the blue during the fourth quarter Utah scored and the Ute fan jumps up flips the BYU fan off with both hands and yells a strong swear word at him. So that hurt the mood of the game for a little while. But overall way fun! Immediately following we met up with Steve's family for a Gray Family Reunion. We missed the dinner but caught up with them at the swimming pool. Now it is time for the picture overload!Conner playing in the Christmas tree box. He stood in this box for a long time.

This was right after we got the tree put up. I was so excited for Conner, his first Christmas tree.

Saturday morning. Conner inside Steve's work boots.

Steve and me at the BYU game.

It was insane how many people ran onto the field after the fame.

Here is a video of the latest book I made.

It Is Finished!

I hope you like it Jen!

Conner's Adventure

I left Conner in the front room playing and I went into the kitchen to make a sandwich and heat up a hot dog. I could still hear Conner. I went back into the front room and he was gone but I could still hear him. He was upstairs in front of my card room door chewing on a glue stick. He had gone up all the stairs by himself WITHOUT me. Scared me to death. I am so lucky he didn't fall.Here is a picture of Conner totally engrossed in Signing Time. It is a DVD that teaches simple signs for babies and parents. That is kind of a bad sign that he is that glued on the TV. I guess he watches TV too much.

Conner loves opening and closing doors. Here are two videos of that.

Video of 2nd Book In Progress

My sister like my first book and asked if she wrote a story if I could make a book up for her. Well here it is almost completed. It is the story of the Three Bears but tweaked up a bit. I love the bowl of spaghetti, with all the string, I think it turned out well.