5 months old

Happy 5 month birthday Connor boy! We are definitely out of the 'infant' stage with Connor and have moved into the 'baby' stage. Connor continues to go to sleep around 8 and will sleep until around 7 or 8 in the morning. He still needs his pacifier put back in his mouth 1-3 times throughout the night. Connor is taking about 3 naps during the day with his 1st one being the longest and last 2 are only about an hour long.

The biggest change since last month is how much Connor is eating these days. Often I feel like I can't get enough food down him. We are now supplementing with formula, as I can no longer keep up with how much he is eating. The other morning he took a 9 oz. bottle (which isn't normal), but still describes how much he has been eating lately. He continues to eat every 3 hours during the day and sometimes less. Currently, he is only getting 1 solid feeding each day around 6:00 at night. We are in the process of cycling through all the solid foods...so far Connor has had peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes. He has enjoyed each food he has tried, but especially seemed to enjoy his sweet potatoes last night! Here in a couple weeks I will start giving him 2 solid feedings a day.

Here is his 5 month photo shoot....

And Elli had to get involved in this photo shoot....

Happy 5 month birthday Connor Lee!! We are enjoying each and every smile and giggle from you!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

In 2010 we were blessed with this little girl....

(Notice the 1st picture Elli is wearing slippers to play in the snow?? Well...we figured those slippers would do the best job to keep her feet warm. Anyways....this weekend we finally got her snow pants and snow boots. I let her 'pick' out her new snow clothes (at least she thinks)...I took her to Once Upon a Child and they were the only snow pants and boots that fit, but she LOVES them and they were extremely cheap...now if only it'd snow)!!

In 2011, we were blessed with this little boy...

(Notice his pacifier?? This little guys LOVES his paci!!)

I can assure you that 2012 will not bring us another baby! I have been pregnant for parts of 2009, 2010, and 2011....we're looking forward to a pregnant-free year!!

Christmas

Merry Christmas!! I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. To say our family was in the car a lot traveling is an understatement. I definitely feel like I spent half of our holiday packing and unpacking, as we stayed the night in several different places.

We started off our celebrations on December 17th. We made a last minute decision to head to Marion for the day for the Lindvall Christmas. Yep, that's right...we made a 6 hour trip and only stayed 3.5 hours. We were in the middle of sleep training Connor, so we wanted to be back at home in time for his bedtime. The kids were wonderful in car and Elli was SOOO excited when we told her that morning where we were going! We had a great time and pulled off the surprise!

Opening presents

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We headed to Mansfield after church on Sunday for Christmas #2. My aunt, uncle and cousins were in town for a couple days, so we were able to see them. Elli had a great time playing with Adison. We hoped to make a trip back to Mansfield to see them one more time before they left to go back to Georgia, but unfortunately we never made it.

Connor looking at his brand new truck!

Adison, Grace, & Elli opening gifts.

Sitting on Great-Grandpa Brauchler's lap.

Family picture after church!

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Christmas #3 happened on Friday morning (December 23rd). Scott and I were both so excited for our Christmas at the house. We put out reindeer food on Thursday night, left milk and cookies out for Santa, and read The Night Before Christmas. Elli was extremely excited about Santa coming. In fact, 45 minutes after we put her to bed, we heard her upstairs in her room. We opened up the door to her room and caught her out of bed holding her stuffed animal dog. She immediately started crying and wanted in her bed immediately. Scott and I then spent the rest of the night dealing with our sump pump issue (merry christmas, huh?).

Putting out Reindeer food

Well....Santa kept his promise and came to our house a few days early. Daddy went up and got Elli from her bed, told her Santa came to our house, and she jumped out of bed and started skipping around in circles. We read the Christmas story while we waited for Connor to wake up... then we opened presents.

Opening up her dog

Complete with pink lips from her doughnut in the morning.

Connor loves his new chair!!

We traveled home on Friday after Elli's marthon nap.

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We woke up Saturday morning left to go to Culver, IN for Christmas #4 at Grandma and Grandpa Wamsley's house.

Great-Grandpa Wamsley & Connor. Grandpa Wamsley loved holding and loving on Connor. He wanted to give him his bottle and they both ended up falling asleep :)

3 generations

Elli helped pass out presents.

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Christmas #5 was on Christmas morning at the Lindvall house. We opened gifts and sadly Connor slept through all of the gifts being opened. We went to church after gifts and then had lunch.

Trying on gifts

Elli was scared of Dane in his Darth Vador mask :)

Papa with 3 of the 4 grandkids

Connor trying out his new plane that Papa L. made him.

Vander (7), Connor (4 months), Dane (5), Elliana (22 months)

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Christmas #6 was at the Brauchler house. We went over to may parent's house on Christmas day and put Elli to bed almost immediately after we got there. We ended up opening gifts at three different times which was a wonderful idea. We opened up our gifts first, then let Avery and Connor open theirs, and then the toddlers opened up their gifts after they woke up from their nap.

Connor and I before opening up gifts!

So happy it's Christmas :)

I wish I could have posted a video of this rather than a picture. Amber got Elli and Kensley a barbie horse that walks. Both girls were petrified of this horse initially, but Elli eventually opened up to it and now loves watching it walk around. She would laugh hysterically every time the horse fell on the ground.

Connor (4 months), Elliana (22 months), Avery (6 months), Kensley (25 months)

Getting ready to ride on the wagon and help Papa B. burn all the boxes

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For Christmas #7, Grandma and Grandpa Zurcher and Aunt Carla came to my parents house on Monday, December 26th. We decided to open gifts all together, which was a bit chaotic with the toddlers. My mom then made dinner for all of us.

Kensley wanted to hold Connor many times this past week.

Connor getting ready to open his gift.

Great-Grandma Zurcher and Connor.

Playing Hide-and-go-seek, Elli's new favorite game. The girls were hiding under the tree.

We spent the rest of the week hanging out with family, going to Indy, going swimming, going bowling, and playing LOTS and LOTS of games of Hide-And-Go-Seek!!

23 months already

Twenty-three months already? Well, not yet. On Monday Elliana will be 23 months old and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get this posted next week, so I figured I'd do it when I had the chance.

These are the things I want to remember about Elli at 23 (well...almost) months of age:

1.) When Elli is doing something she knows she is not supposed to, she tilts her head down, closes her eyes half way, and looks at you out of the corner of her eye.

2.) She gets so excited about animals, especially dogs.

3.) She loves being a Mommy to her baby doll. She intently watches me and then the next thing I know, Elli is doing the exact same thing with her baby that I did with Connor.

4.) Elli will find one of her purses, put it over her shoulder and tell me "bye-bye." When I ask her where she is going, she'll either tell me she is going "shopping," to "church," or to "work."

5.) She perseverates on different topics. Such as Daddy and Papa being on a plane, seeing Santa and telling him she wants a dog, Seeing a cow with Nana and being scared of it, being locked in a room, etc. I could go on and on....

6.) She loves telling stories (in her own way of course)

7.) She loves pestering Bella. She will take Bella's bones or ball and put it in places where Bella can't get to it. Elli will then laugh hysterically.

8.) Elli thinks passing gas or hearing someone pass gas is extremely funny. At least once a week at dinner, Elli lifts her leg and tries to push one out. She is very proud of herself when successful and thinks it is really funny. Oh the things her father teaches her (by the way...I know some people reading this think it is disgusting, but I have to comment on it for our documentation purposes)!

9.) She is REALLY into her blankets these days....not just her niney. One night she had to sleep with at least 6 of them, her niney, 3 dogs, and her bear.

10.) A highlight of her day is when Scott walks in the door from work. When she hears that door open, she immediately drops what she's doing and runs to him screaming "DADDY, DADDY, DADDY."

11.) She LOVES sweets. Cookies, chocolate, cake, mashmellows....you name it, she loves it!

12.) She is not as much of a picky eater as she used to be. Making one meal and making her eat whatever we do is paying off!

There is so much more I could write about, but I wanted to document one more milestone before I end this post. Elli had her first set of pigtails today!!

I'm not sure how often you'll see pigtails in her hair, as Scott wasn't much of a fan. He thought she didn't look like herself.

Happy Early 23 Month Birthday, Miss Elli Belly. I can't believe we'll be celebrating your 2nd birthday in just a month. You are growing way too fast!!

Connor is 4 months Old

Connor officially turned 4 months old last Friday! He continues to be a sweet little guy and is slowly becoming more interested in his toys. These days, Connor frequently has his fist in his mouth and if you are carrying him, well....you can bet he is gnawing on your shoulder. He doesn't have any teeth, but I'm sure things are moving around in there.

Sleep....oh let me talk about sleep! I'm so happy to say that Connor is turning into a good little sleeper. Our sleep training is paying off and Connor is now going to sleep at 8:00 and sleeping until 7:30 or 8:00. Of course we get up a few times at night to put his pacifier back in (we're hoping in a couple months he will be able to do this by himself), but it is so nice have a little bit of free time in the evenings! We currently have a strict bedtime routine for him that we have yet to deviate from. Connor gets rice cereal around 6:30 at night, a bath around 7:15 to 7:30, and then a bottle. Occasionally we have time for a book if he hasn't already passed out for the night.

Connor hasn't been letting me rock him anymore before he goes down for naps. So, this week I've been putting him in his crib, patting him on the back, and sticking his pacifier in his mouth. I typically put part of his blanket in his hand and then he usually has no trouble going to sleep.

Today was Connor's 3rd cardiology appointment. We were hoping to find out today that his hole was closed, but unfortunately we didn't. He still has his hole, but they don't think it is causing him any trouble. The cardiologist gave us information on possible complications we might see in high altitudes (such as Denver) and complications with the divot in his chest. They will continue to monitor his heart and we go back in 4 months where they will do another echo. Overall, they still continue to think he probably won't need surgery to close it, but will find out more information when they look at the echo in April.

Here is Connor's 4 month photo shoot.

Elli wanted in on this photo shoot...

And then she became interested in Connor's sticker on his shirt

And insisted that she too needed one!

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Bubba!!