June 2016 - One

I took the entire month of July off from blogging and I think it was partly because

1) I was extremely sick with this new pregnancy and trying to not throw up was my priority - not blogging, and

2) June was such a full month I was a little intimidated to blog it all.

 

Well I'm back and even though the month was full I'm ready to recap it.

 

We start off on June 1st with a bang - ZAY DAY

 

  These three legally became a family.

 

 We had fun celebrating these two boys officially being brothers.

 

In summary - we love this one boy with all our hearts.

We are so thankful he is ours - a Luttrell.

Officially. In the books.

 

The second was a Thursday and Noah and Zay stayed the night with us. Do you think Connor loves his cousins? Do you think they have a hard time looking away from the TV/iPad/Computer for a picture?

 

 

My sweet husband doing the dishes. Lots of dishes. Because I could barely be near the kitchen these past couple months.

  

On Friday Cecil, Connor and I headed to Austin, we stopped in Waco to visit the Magnolia Market.

 

This is Connor and I waiting in the truck at home for Cecil to finish loading. He thinks he is BIG TIME when he gets to sit in the front seat.  

 

We got to Round Rock late in the afternoon, checked into our hotel and then headed out again. We ate burgers at a delicious local place and went shopping at the outlet mall. Cecil and Connor both got a pair of Adidas before we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

We watched a little TV while we rested in the hotel room.

 

Then, we all got cleaned up and in our PJs.

 

 Leslie and her crew arrived soon after and Noah came to our room to stay the night on the pull out couch. Saturday morning, Cecil got up to work out at the hotel. I was woken up by Connor coughing and Cecil frantically screaming that Connor was throwing up while lying on his back.

:( Poor baby.

Poor Cecil had to clean it all up because I was so nauseous from my pregnancy.

 

We all got ready, a few of us had breakfast at Denny's, and then we were headed to the Rodriguez's house for the birthday celebration. While stopped at Starbucks, Connor threw up again in his car seat. It was everywhere. And of course I wasn't very much help cleaning because I felt so sick.

 

He didn't have any other symptoms so we continued on to Elgin and decided we would head home if he threw up again.

 

Once we got to Elgin, Cecil cleaned out the car, I gave Connor a quick bath and we dressed Connor in his 'big brother' shirt to announce our news to my favorite girls: Leslie and Michelle.

 

Michelle noticed first and said - "Is that true?!?!"  It was a really fun moment. Leslie was so excited that she cried. Very special day.

 

Noah was excited at first, gave me a hug and kissed my tummy. But on second thought he was upset and headed to the trampoline by himself to pout. He said everyone forgets about him when there is a new baby. :(

 

I promise Connor was in a good mood and feeling fine. He just looks sad in this picture, but its the only one I have. He had such a fun time playing with the big kids on the slip and slide.

 

 

The party was perfect. Michelle had made her house so fun for the kiddos and us adults.

We didn't get any group pictures. Womp Womp.

 

Connor and I had to sneak away to take a nap towards the end of the party, but we all had such a fun-filled day!

 

In the late afternoon we packed up and headed home. We were worried that Connor might throw up again so we put him in the pack in play in our room that night and surprisingly he slept in it well.

 

 

Sunday we rested and then met Leslie and her boys for "Sunday Sushi" as we call it. They surprised us with a cookie cake. :) Super sweet.  

 

Afterward sushi, my family went to the AT&T store and I got a new phone - with much more space. :)

This is a bad picture, but I can promise you Connor was in major distress that these balls were not real and he couldn't throw them.

 

 

Monday, Jackie sent the following pictures of Nana still in the hospital from her fall from May.

She is so pretty and always smiling. :)

 

I didn't take many pictures that week (probably because I was feeling super sick), but I did get these from Thursday night when Connor took his evening bottle with Cecil. We've been giving him the bottle in the living room, then brushing his teeth before bedtime.

 

Friday Connor and I stayed home together. He rolled around on his ball like a crazy person.

 

I set up my new lamp in the living room and admired those sweet baby cousins in the picture above. :)

 

Then I worked on a gift basket for a friend while Connor "helped." ;)

My friends and I had gone with a 'B' theme for her initial and I think it turned out pretty cute.

 

 

The only thing missing was this sign and a bottle of vodka :)

Wouldn't you love to have this in your bathroom?!?!

 

While Connor napped I check on my other little babe - just a tiny sweet pea.  

 

After naps, Connor took a ride in his truck with Kangaroos.

 

After Cecil got home from work, we picked Noah and Zay up from Boy Scout camp. I thought the bridge was really pretty and tried to get a couple pictures. Connor was way too distracted by all the boy scouts running around to look at me.

 

I tried getting a picture of all the boys, but same story.... oh well. They are still cute. :)

The boys had an AWESOME time at boy scout camp and those buckets they carry around were their seats for the week. 

 

 

On the way to the truck Noah saw his friend from school and you would have thought it was Christmas morning. They were both so excited. His friend made sure I gave his mother Leslie's phone number so they could have a play date.

 

Noah loves loves loves his friends. He is such a people person - just like his Ampa.

 

After we were loaded up in the truck we headed to Denton to visit Nana in the new rehab facility she had been moved to that week. She seemed like she was doing much worse mentally than the last time I had seen her (the day of her fall) and Jackie and Dad were making decisions about her care.

 

It was good to see her, but she just didn't seem herself and I knew it was different this time. This is actually the last picture I got of Connor and Nana together. I'm thankful for it even though Connor is fussing and not looking at the camera. Nana was trying to comfort him - which is so typical Nana.

She was confused, but she just wanted everyone to be happy.

 

 After the visit we went to Chick-Fil-A with Mom and Dad for dinner. We tried to quickly change Connor's diaper and shirt in the bed of the truck before Mom and Dad pulled up, but Mom could read the shirt from their truck. They were excited about the new baby. Connor had a blast playing in the jungle gym for the first time. We were pretty much the only ones there so he thought he was super cool getting to go with the big kids.

 

I'm going to wrap up this post and continue the month with another one later this week.

Man. Its tough on me to write. I have so many emotions reliving June. Highest of highs and lowest of lows, for sure.

 

 

 

Connor at 18 months

Connor is officially 18 months old and while I was a little worried about his progress after his 18 month check up, I don't have any worries now. I think he has just blossomed in the few weeks since we saw his doctor.

 

  

Physical

This boy is a runner! I love hearing the little pitter patter of his feet down the hallway in our house. When he runs he slings his arms back and forth almost faster than his feet are going.  

He has become more independent and walks into school by himself every morning. I mean - I walk with him, but he doesn't want me to carry him like I had been. He gingerly takes his time walking down the hall and then basically steps into his classroom like, "here I am!!"

Most days I carry him after I pick him up, but more and more he is happy to walk to the car himself.

 

His wave is side to side now instead of up and down and he now waves for 'Hi' as well as 'Bye.'

 

He still love, love, loves to throw balls. Nana got him some golf sticks that he is obsessed with and I'm always surprised at his good aim when throwing. We finally got him a basketball hoop and he has started throwing the basketball instead of always dunking it. I'm super proud. :)

 

 

Communication

Talking has been a bit of a roller coaster for us. He said his first word, duck, at about eight months, but since then has slllooooowed way down. He completely forgot the word duck, but started saying a few words around his first birthday. My last update at 14 months he was saying four words consistently and the doctor seemed happy with that.

 

At his 18 month appointment I started to get worried, because he really was just not talking much, the doctor said he wanted him to have at least 10 words at this age and I said he basically has two:

Dada and Ball.

I started getting a little panicked about how hard it was going to be when the new baby came if Connor wasn't able to communicate with me.

 

In the last two weeks, his vocabulary has really expanded and as of today he says the following words consistently:

Ball (by far most used word)

Dada

Mama

Bye-bye

Go

Elmo

Baba (bottle)

Book

Baby

Nana (banana)

Mine

uh-oh

Bubble (newest and maybe his clearest)

 

He also signs "more" and nods his head yes and no (sometimes). I wish he would communicate yes and no more often, but I'm sure that will come and I'll be wishing he didn't know the word 'No' Another cute thing he does is puts his hands in the air, palms up, to say 'where did it/they go.'

I can't wait for football because he for sure knows "touchdown!" with his arms.
My new favorite trick is when I chant USA USA USA during the Olympics he will pump his fist.

 

Lately I feel like he understands 90% of what we say, which makes communication much easier. He will follow instructions and *usually* listens when we say "no" or "uh-uh"

 

 

Eating

This boy still loves his carbs. In fact, last week he insisted on have a sandwich roll for breakfast.

He loves bananas and apple sauce, sometimes he likes grapes and apples.

We have not made any improvement on the vegetable front.

He love pizza, beans, rice and yogurt.

He also, of course, looooves sweets.

 

Usually in the morning he will have a bottle and toast/waffles.

For lunch he will have a banana, sunflower butter sandwich, and applesauce.

He usually eats a snack after his nap of goldfish, granola bar, or fruit.

For dinner he eats whatever we are having.

 

He also really likes feeding himself and I discovered recently that he will eat more if he gets to use the fork to put it in his mouth.

 

The doctor did say that it was time to get rid of his bottle (uh oh). I'm guessing the sooner the better because we don't want him wanting his baby sibling's bottle - or feeling like they 'took' it from him. Right now he has at least two bottles of milk a day. Sometimes more when we are home all day.

 

I loaded up on sippy cups last week and we are hoping to make the complete transition in the next month or so.

 

 

  

 Loving

Around April Connor really started to enjoy watching videos on my phone and/or the iPad. We try to limit it and I think we do a pretty good job. He will watch in the morning while I get dressed and he eats his breakfast and drinks his milk. His favorites are Bubble Guppies, Elmo's World, songs, or random videos of people opening/reviewing toys.

 

Recently he has been obsessed with books. He will bring them to us to read to him or he will just look at them by himself. One thing he loves to do is point at all the balls on the pages and scream 'ball.' Even his nighttime routine has changed from me singing songs to watching three songs on my phone to now - books.

 

He looooves animals. He gets excited anytime we see one (not often - LOL) or he sees one on TV.

 

Connor gives hugs all the time. Anytime we say ouch or act hurt when he slaps or a ball accidentally hits us he comes over and hugs us. This weekend I taught him that the baby is in my tummy and he when asked "where is the baby," he will point at my tummy, kiss it and hug it.

 

He still FIERCLY loves his blankets.  He loves to chew on the corner and then (weirdly) tap his ear or the corner of the his eye with the wet/harder corner. Recently he likes to put the corner of the blankets between his toes. I'm glad we have 6 of these blankets and can try to rotate them through the laundry often.

 

He loves people - especially strangers. If someone next to us at a restaurant is not paying him attention he will just stare at them and laugh loudly until they do. hahaha

 

He also loves being rough. If Cecil or I are laying on the ground, we immediately become a jungle gym and he thinks it is hilarious.

 

Copy cat - he copies everything we do and its adorable. This past weekend Cecil was scratching his chin, so Connor did too and then looked at me for approval.

 

Me - he definitely is attached to me and does not like it if I'm holding anyone else. Seriously does not like it. He doesn't even like it if Cecil rubs my arm sometimes. I think he is in for a rude awakening when the new baby comes. uh oh

 

 

We just love this sweet boy of ours and I can honestly say 18 months is one of my very favorite stages. My heart bursts with pride every time he learns a new word or copies Cecil doing something ridiculous. He makes our house 100 times happier and we love him so much.

Magnolia Take 2

In May I went to the Magnolia Market in Waco with my friend Michelle.

We had a great child-free girls day.  

I realize I still have not blogged about what I bought there. Ooops. Maybe soon.

 

Well in June, our little family was headed down to Austin to celebrate Michelle's kids' birthdays.

We left on a Friday and stopped in Waco at the Magnolia Market.

Cecil is a fan of the show Fixer Upper too and I know he was excited to visit.

If you remember from last time, I reported that Michelle and I both agreed we were thankful we didn't have strollers or toddlers with us inside the busy store. Well - this time we did.

We loaded Connor up in what I thought was our most narrow contraption and headed to the Silos.

 

I think he was excited to get out of the car.

 

Look at those clouds. It looked like it was about to rain.

 

The Silos.

 

First we got something to eat for lunch. I couldn't really eat much since I've been so sick.
But Connor (who usually turns away meat) actually ate some of the meat from Cecil's taco.

After eating, we headed to the newly opened Seed and Supply Store. On our way through the gardens, we spotted a couple friends.

Connor loved looking at them.

 

The Seed & Supply store was TINY and CROWDED. I was the only one that went in and I didn't stay more than 2 minutes.

 

 

I love the simplicity of the white shed and natural wood doors.

 

And a close up of a fairy garden. They sell these houses and supplies in the Seed & Supply Store.

I just love this wooden teepee and mushroom stools.

We asked someone to take a family picture of us by the Magnolia car, but Connor
could not stop pointing at the green grass and balls. :)

We finally let him play and he was in heaven.

He just carried this ball around for a long time and watched everyone.

I set up the 'corn hole' game to see if he could understand the concept and he pretty much did.
He didn't throw the bean bags, but just placed them inside. :)

 

He got excited when a little boy came to play too, but that didn't last long. LOL

Cecil got a picture of me with the silos. Cute, huh? *eye roll*

My boys playing on the grass.

 

After awhile we decided it was plenty hot and time to go inside the store.
It was much more crowded than the last time I visited.
Also, the second (lower) level of the store was totally not air conditioned.
Whaatt?
I don't know how they are going to survive the summer like that.
I hadn't noticed it the first time I went, but it was definitely hotter a month or so later.

 

It was much more crowded and, as I suspected, no fun to try to maneuver with a stroller and/or toddler that wanted out of the stroller.

Somehow I was still able to manage to choose a few things to buy ;)

 

We took a family picture outside the store and then headed to the truck.
I found out who owned the parking lots close to the Silos that I had written about last time.
Its the Baptist church - so we felt good about giving money to them for parking. :)
I'm sure they are making a TON!

Look at that sweaty hair! I tried to get Connor to eat more before we got on the road and buckled him back in to the car seat, but he wasn't really having it.
The boy is just not much of an eater.

All in all - it was a fun visit and I'm glad Cecil got to see Silos with me.
Connor definitely enjoyed the outside grass area and it was a nice stop on our drive to Austin.
I'm certain we would not go back until the weather is cooler. I don't want to go anywhere in Texas until the weather is cooler though.

I still want to do a post about all the things I bought there. Fingers crossed. ha!