8 months already! And he has an eye for danger.

Unbelievably, Conner is now 8 months old!!! He seems to have grown overnight, and I'm not too happy about it. Maybe because he's #3, I feel like it went 3 times as fast (or maybe its because of some other factors like moving, holidays, hearing loss, etc may have contributed that).

He's sitting up, rolling and army crawling EVERYWHERE!! And he is only interested in things that he shouldn't be! He loves cables and cords of all kinds (he pulled my scentsy candle warmer off the counter and thankfully it missed him!). He loves trying to get his hands on the dog and cat (thankfully they are so sweet and seem to like the attention). But his absolute favorite danger--the wood stove! He loves the thing. I have to block it off, or he's for sure headed for it. What am I going to do when this kid is walking!!!!

Such a sweet smile he has. It reminds me so much of Dallon.

And so chubby! Look at those cheeks, and of course he still has some food on them :)

Conner trying to get the cat this morning. She was enjoying a nice warm spot by the fire, and didn't seem to mind that Conner was following her around the room. She just laid down and let him check her out.

She has been the most wonderful cat. She's moved with us more than a dozen times and in 3 different states. She doesn't scratch, bite or hiss at my kids, she tolerates the dog, and catches mice. She is lovable, but not too needy. When we leave town, we leave her food and water, and she takes care of herself. What's not to love?

I need to take some nicer pictures of Conner soon. He's changed so much since the last ones I took. I just need life to give me a little break, so I can clear my head enough to remember :)

Sleep trouble...

So Conner has been having some sleep issues. I think its a result of our 2 trips to Idaho in just a few days, and a growth spurt just before that. He's been basically refusing to settle down. I take him up to his room, turn out the lights, walk a little to calm him, swaddle him, turn on the white noise machine, and try to put him down. This use to work within 5 minutes. Now he squirms in my arms while I walk, fights and squirms out of his swaddling (which I've given up on completely now), then starts screaming when I put him in bed. I pick him up and put him back down a few times, and he's all keyed up like there is no way he's going to close his eyes any time soon--and he doesn't.

I end up giving up, and trying again about a half our later, only to get the same results. He falls asleep in random places (like his high chair yesterday), and doesn't sleep longer at night to make up for it. The last week has been pretty tense around here.

But today is a new day! For some unknown reason, today I went up with him, turned on the white noise, gave him a hug, laid him in bed (happy), and left the room to listen. After about 15 minutes he hadn't cried, so I went in to check, and sure enough he was sound asleep! Why do children do these things to their mothers? I was about to go insane because I had no idea how to fix what was wrong, and then just like that its gone (and apparently he didn't need me to fix it). [sigh] I guess I just need some more sleep and a chill pill.

Chris goes back to work!!!

Yes that's right! Chris is going back to work. He got the call this afternoon. They said he could stay here, and any arrangments for his disability will be made with his manager in Boise.

After all of the worry and stress of not knowing, and expecting the worst, we are TRULY grateful and very excited that he will be at work tomorrow. After 6 weeks of being at home, deaf, on steroids, stressed, and a little depressed, things are definitly looking great today.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us/him and supported us through this. We really appreciate it, and it definitely made a difference to us.

On a different note, we returned late last night from a quick trip to Idaho to see my baby brother Berik off for his mission. He is headed to the Missionary Training Center in Provo on Wednesday, and then he will fly out to his mission in Minnesota about 3 weeks later. He seems so grown up--he was only 6 when I left for college--now that he is 19 and headed out on his own, it seems so strange that he isn't a little boy any more.

Good luck Berik! We'll be thinking of you, and we know you'll do a great job.

From Son Up 'till Son Down

So I finally took the advice of a few friends and started an etsy shop. You can check it out at

http://fromsonuptillsondown.etsy.com/

Yes, that cute baby in the pink hat is Conner :) Thanks Whitney for the inspiration for the name of my shop.