Pics at 17 months

SNACK TIME!
My Second Sucker, EVER. MMMM!
Moving to Boca Ratan. (Trying on hats at Gymboree)
Just happy as can be, always!
Waffles and strawberries makes a boy happy!

TEACHER!

Tuesday evening while hubs and I were playing with Connor, we got to see another amazing feat of the toddlers world. C crawled off the couch, onto the floor where his big book was "Blue bird, blue bird, what do you see? I see a gold fish looking at me" And you scroll the small picture back to reveal the gold fish. Well, the second to the last page is Teacher, Teacher, what do you see? I had just read this book to C on Sunday, and he loves to push the page back to reveal the next picture. Now back to Tuesday night. He was looking through the book by himself and got to the Teachers picture. Without prompting he says "TSHEESH". Hub and I looked up at each other and then said to C "That's right, TEACHER!" He was trying to say Teacher.

He won't say Mama on a regular basis but he will attempt a word like Teacher. Nice. :-)

Loving on my great-grandparents

MeMa and C working the remote



Papa Lee and C getting some mornin snuggles

I wanna b a Cowboy!

Enjoying cabin fever

Today is our second day inside from the sub-freezing temps in the DFW area. My boys and I are having a good time eating all the food in the house, napping, and playing. Tiny tot is fighting some major drainage and cough and it is just plain pitiful. Luckily, the smart kid knows how to blow his nose at 15 months. Cuteness.

Yesterday while watching him play with all of his toys in the living room, C decides to open one of the bottom drawers to our entertainment center. He lifts his long leg and gets a toe hold, pulls up using the shelf, lifts the other leg into the drawer and takes a seat. For 20 minutes the boy sat in that drawer looking at all of his dvd cases. Pic to follow...

Again today I am watching him play and he decides he needs my phone, and in order to get to it, he must get up on the couch. Last week, his daddy showed him that by using the ottoman, he can get a toe hold and pull up. Remembering his climbing lesson by daddy, he leans onto the ottoman, hikes a leg up and pulls..TA-DA. Look! Mommy! I am now on the couch and coming towards your phone!! Sweet.

Last funny for the day: My family eats all of its meals at our dining table. For the last 2 meals, when I have noticed that C is finished with his food, he lifts his plate and reaches it as far out as he can to put it on the big table as if to say "Im finished, no more!". Thinking it was just a fluke thing last night, this morning at breakfast he lifts the plate and pushes it away, and I ask if he is all-done and I get a confirmation nod of head. Smart.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day you have given to us to LIVE. I am most grateful for the blessings you have poured out upon me; I count them every day. How truly blessed I am, and I won't let the world get to me. We wait for you to come again, and hope we are living life on earth the way that you would have us live. When it seems like this world will hold us down, we have faith knowing you will save us and come for us again.
Thank you for my son. You created this precious healthy life, and I am forever eternally grateful to you. I will sing your praises!
Thank you for my husband. You joined our lives, and you hold us together. We are a team because of your work in us.
Show me how to praise you more, love you deeper, and be a good wife and mommy every day.

My love to you Lord,
T

New Year Letter to Connor

Sweetest Connor:

This is a letter to you, something for you to look upon at a point in your life where you need to read a simple word from your momma. We just entered a new year of 2011, you are 14 months old and your little brain is growing by leaps and bounds with new knowledge and skills.

Mommy has had a lot on her mind about life and love going on, and I want to tell you to cherish every single day. It's so easy to just type those words but they have real meaning behind them. Too often, it is easy to get caught up in things of life and forget that we are only promised the breath we are taking right now.

This is such grown up talk for such a little guy, but I feel like I need to tell you how much you are cherished and loved. Every single moment of every day, you bring a smile to our face. Your big blue eyes literally light up my life in a way I have never known could happen. The way you look at your daddy and me is precious, I can tell you are figuring out what love really means. There is something very special about you little man, and it's the way you bring joy to this world. It's amazing to me that you are becoming this fully walking-talking person who has emotion and excitement and visible learning. You are quite the copy-cat right now; you copy-cat when I comb my hair, when I wash my hands. You are especially mastering the skill of "batting your eyes"...ladies watch out! I've got a heartbreaker on my hands (in the most adorable way of course).

This year we are going to have so much fun with you as you grow more and more (and buy you even bigger shoes). Connor, you have the biggest baby feet that most of us have seen and it is so cute. You are a tall boy so your feet fit you perfectly and they are still the sweetest feet in the world to me. You wear a size 5 right now and pushing into size 6. I know some 2 year olds that aren't even in a size 5 yet. :-)

Need to interject some fun stories about things you are doing lately:

Tonight, me and your daddy were eating Italian food at the table, and you had already eaten and full. Yet, as we were eating, you sign 'more' and I asked you what you wanted more of. You point to the bread on the table, whine, and sign more again. We were rolling! You are communicating with us in your own way.

This morning as I was dropping you off to spend the day with your Nanny, I told you to give me kisses before I left. Nanny and I walk to the door, and you start whining and signing 'eat' and you point to the door. Clearly, you were telling me you were ready for your breakfast and you know you get that once mommy leaves. As Nanny and I crack up laughing, you then wave bye-bye and point to the door. Again, we crack up laughing. Here, you were telling me okay mom, enough be gone already. One last time you start signing 'eat.' I took the hint and walked outside to go to the car after giving you kisses. I love the way you make me laugh little one!

Something new you started a couple of days ago is pointing out people in pictures. We can hold up a picture and ask you where is mommy, daddy, nanny, etc, and you point to the right person. This is cool stuff kid.

For Christmas you got a Buzz Lightyear action toy, and you sit for 15 minutes at a time playing with that toy. It makes noises and we pretend that it flies. After showing this one time, you took buzz into your hands and made the flying noise with your mouth and try to make Buzz fly in the air: just like we had shown you one time.

You got a rocking horse for Christmas, and it is covered in this super soft chenille type fabric, and you love it so much that you give it love-love every time you walk by it, and you wrap your little long arms around it's neck, grin, and rub your nose to its nose. Pretty much the cutest thing!

For your birthday, you got a red Little Tikes cozy coupe, we have it in the living room and we push you around in it every evening. You love to climb in it and close the door. (as I am typing your daddy and I are sitting on the couch, and you have an elmo see-n-say toy that is going off right now. For the second time in 30 minutes the toy starts spouting off its phrases and no one is near the thing! spookiness) Anyways, tonight, we were all playing in the floor and you walk out of the living room and into the entry way to pull your coupe car into the living room. Let me make this clearer, you are pulling it sideways NOT pushing it into the living room and it gets caught on your rocking horse's leg and now you are dragging both toys towards us. Your daddy and I are laughing so hard; yet you are so serious and whining because you want to take a ride in your coupe. You are so strong, you always have been, but wowzer tough guy! :-)

Now that I have given you a glimpse into your action packed days, I want to leave you with some thoughts from me to you...

I hope your smiling faces brings joy to the lives of everyone you encounter. I hope I teach you how to have faith, pray to God, love your family, love your friends, love your pets, take care of those around you. I hope I am the best mommy that I can be. I hope I can teach you not to compare yourself to others. I hope to help you understand that God has given you gifts, no matter what they are or how long it takes for you to discover them, He has placed them inside you, and you get to show them to the world. I hope I can teach you how to love even when it hurts. I hope I can be understanding and patient when you need it the most. I hope I can teach you how to treat others in a way that you want to be treated. I ho

pe I can help you understand that people are all different in their own ways, and that this doesn't make us better or worse than the person standing next to us, just that we must love them as we love ourselves. I hope I can teach you how to spend time with God each day (something I must do better at myself).

I never knew I could love another person as much as I love you, son. I thank God every single day for choosing me to be your mommy. If anyone is blessed, it is me.

I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be....