Maggie Valley 2010 Part One

Connor is having a great time in Maggie Valley.  We have had some trouble with her teeth and fevers but other than that she is doing well.  I never know what to think when we go places to spend the night because she never really has been good at sleeping away from home.  The first night here she was up at 3:45 with 100.3 fever so we gave her some motrin and let her play a bit and then put her back down.  Yesterday she took two naps, one three hours long and the other two hours long.  Do you think she was trying to get rid of a bug?  We do!

This is the first time she has been in a sand box and she doesn't like it too much.  Each day she becomes a little more familiar with it so hopefully she will come around.  She likes to be outside of the box apposed to being inside.

She went down to the waterfall.  Connor loved it and wanted to get in it but it was, of course, too cold.

Meme bought her a new dress so we had to wear it out to dinner.  It is nice that she likes to dress up because I love dressing her!

Oscar is having a blast being a mountain dog.  He was so hot he just had to take a dip in Connor's pool.  We had to clean it out before she used it. Look at how dirty he was!

More to come.  We still have four days and you know how I love to take pictures!

"Welcome"...

is what Connor replies with when you give her something and ask her to say "Thank you".  So cute; I could just eat her up!  Her facial expressions are too funny too.  Happy Wednesday!

A Green Thumb

Connor and I have been taking care of our neighbor's tomato plants.  Thank goodness that all it entails is a water jug.  I do not have a green thumb and I would hate to mess their little project up.

When I got home this afternoon, Justin looked a little frazzled.  I asked him is he was ok and he said that Connor whined all day (we are still trying to get that last molar in).  What do you do when you have a cranky 14 month old?  Take her and stick her in her baby pool.  It worked, for about 20 minutes.

14 Months Old

You are now 14 months old and I want to make sure I accurately update what you are doing new!

FOODS
You have a new love for raisins, you could still eat black beans and cheese for every meal, you are warming up to green beans and you like graham crackers.  You have tried tilapia  but didn't really care for it and you really like hot dogs. It is so cute to see you eating watermelon too. 

Let's see, you are getting much better at feeding yourself with a spoon and wind up losing interest half way through and digging into whatever it is that you are eating.  You are a dipper.  Anything and everything is dipped repeatedly without ever going for a different chip, carrot, cucumber.  You lick off the dip and then dip again and again and again. 

You love to go outside and swing or just to play with the doggies.  You officially started walking on May 10.  You haven't stopped since.  You are a fearless climber which makes us nervous.  You are truly the sweetest little girl.  You are very loving.  You love to cuddle, especially when listening to a good book.  You give tons of kisses and yes, they are still open mouth and ALL tongue.  You have so much life in you and other people are affected by your love. 

Your favorite doll is Carol.  Yes, her name is Carol.  It is one of Kendall's hand me downs and she has this really obnoxious laugh and frayed and frizzy bangs.  You drag her around by the arm.  I must get a picture of this.  So cute!

NEW WORDS
Black bean
Doodle
Pappy ( you have already nicknamed your grandfather)
Thank you
Please
OK
car
Truck ( you actually point out trucks)

I don't know if I should be nervous about the following pictures! Maybe I need to buy you a purse of your own.  You walked around with it on your shoulder like there was money in it and you were at the mall.

This is a picture of the first time you ever fell asleep in your stroller.  I knew that this day would eventually come!

I am coming to grips with the fact that you are getting older.  I am still sad because I don't want you to grow up as fast as you are but I do have to admit that I enjoy all the new things that you are doing and learning.  It is so much fun to be your mommy and I love you with all my heart!

Just Catching You Up...

on a few things. Connor is now walking 100% of the time. It is so cute too. She falls often but is doing great, none the less. I love this blog because we will always have this for her. All my posts will eventually be archived so that we can share all the big news with her when she is older!




We also celebrated Shane's birthday Saturday. It was great to be with family and I know that Connor had a great time. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. I have to be honest and admit that it is a heck of a lot easier now that Connor is walking, especially with my shoulder. At my parents house, they have a multi-level deck and she has gotten pretty efficient with climbing it.

Her personality is surfacing every day.  She is so funny and we laugh at her often.  I don't really know what she was saying to me during this picture.  I can only imagine!

She loves to give kisses.  Now they are about 50/50 open mouth to closed mouth.  She is giving her great grandmother, Grammy a kiss and also Pap Joe a kiss.  Papa Joe just loves to watch Connor and he laughs so hard at her.  It is so sweet.

We can't forget about the birthday boy! Uncle Shane is so special to her.  We love you Uncle Shane and hope that you had a wonderful birthday!

And Now Mother's Day...

I had a wonderful mother's day.  The most important thing that I wanted to do was to spend all day with my family and that is just what I did.  I got a combined birthday and mother's day gift from Justin.  He bought me a gift card to zappos.com so that if I saw a pair of shoes for Connor that I really liked, I didn't have to wait to get them.  I would have the gift card handy and use it at my will.  I just loved the idea because I have had a scary obsession to children shoes and don't necessarily need too many  pairs because Connor's  feet grow so fast.  At least now, when the fall comes (not that I am rushing it) I will be able to have a little fun.

Connor is walking 100% of the time now.  It is so funny because Saturday she was walking 40% and then Sunday she woke up a walker.  She falls a bunch but that is expected.  Every day she gets better.  We actually walked to our mailbox tonight, which is not close!

I made a last minute decision to turn Connor's car seat around.  I was going to wait until late summer because of the recomendations of keeping them rear-facing for two years but she is such a horrible traveler that I thought I would give it a try.  I can't say I like it because she is growing up too fast and I kind of want her to still be that little baby girl.  I am coming to terms with it though.  Justin thinks that it is cool that she is facing forward.  I will warm up to the idea; it just might take a minute.

Fundraising, Birthday and Mothers Day Oh My!

It has been a quick minute since my last post.  I apologize for this.  We have been BUSY!  On Friday, my mom and I took Connor to Gwinnett County's Relay for Life fundraiser.  It was awesome.  I wanted to go last year but Connor was so little still that I decided to focus on going this year.  Well we did and we had a blast.  We got to see Reese, Caroline and sweet Sam.  We walked around, ate, cheered for the survivor walk, shared ice cream and supported the cause.  We can't wait to go next year!  I will definitely bring my camera next year.

The weather has been so nice, I have been able to put Connor in her very little, teeny, weeny itty bitty baby pool.  She has a  blast in it but I don't know how because it is literally two inches deep.  Anyway, it works, for now.  The pool was for last summer, when she was three months old.  We will be replacing this one soon.  Of course Oscar was there to make sure she was safe.

My birthday was Saturday; yes I told 31.  I am not too excited about it because it only means that I am getting older.  30 wasn't bad but 31 is.  I am still not settled with it but it is what it is.  I am thankful to have a wonderful family that helped me to celebrate this glorious birthday.  Connor loved my fettucini alfredo. 

 Yes, she is eating a spaghetti noodle that long.  She is just like her mommy and Grandma, we are lovers of pasta.

Mothers Day will be next post.  I am tired and MUST go to bed!

The Best Pizza in Town

This post pays tribute to my mom. I can't wait to take you!

La Bella's Pizzeria in Marietta was rated the best New York pizza in all of Atlanta. When Justin and I read this in the newspaper one random Sunday morning, we immediately made plans to visit the restaurant. I am so glad we did because it is, hands down, the closest to NY pizza that I have found. I am drooling just thinking about it!

After telling Cheryll about it, she wanted to go. We ate there today and she said that it was awesome too! Connor had no complaints either. She ate garlic knots, pizza and of course, a cannoli. Grandma, she absolutely loved the restaurant and wants to take you back to try it too. Whenever you are missing New York and have a taste for good NY pizza, we will take you. Promise!

Animal Noises

Connor has gotten the hang of saying animal noises. She knows what a doggie says, a duck says, a cow says, a pig says and also what a horse says. The cutest one is the pig because she actually snorts. She doesn't say oink, oink. I am going to try and get her animal sounds on camera for you all to see! Also, her horse is not a neigh; when we went to the polo fields the horse "blew bubbles" instead of saying neigh so she blows bubbles whenever you ask her what a horse says.

Justin and I were just noticing that although Connor doesn't talk to us (well she talks, a lot, just not in complete sentences) she is starting to understand what we are saying. This is so cool! Before I put her down for her nap this morning I told her to go and get her pink teddy from our bedroom and she did! So so neat!

Happy Sunday!