CT Coast

Colin and I left Birmingham last Thursday night and headed up to CT for a wedding.  Connor stayed with his JoJo and Big Daddy (and had a great time)!  We enjoyed a few nights away hanging out with Colin's college friends.  All the pictures I took are pretty bad . . . but the wedding was really fun!  Congrats Ali and David!  Good Food - Great Band . . .

And then the after party . . .

Tater TOTS!!

Happy Father's Day!

ALL OUR LOVE TO DADS!

Jinxed

You remember when I said I was probably jinxing the incredible power of our HVAC unit in our "One Year Later" post? Well, so far I haven't experienced that jinx. I did manage to jinx another portion of that post - namely "What we love - our Covered deck". Yep. Not loving it the past 2 days - AT ALL. I know it is shocking, but I did not have this super amazing deck built to house random critters. Go to your own home CRITTERS! Here is a photo that I took 2 nights ago of the critter.

At first I thought it was a bat. Then I was scared it was a snake. After turning on the lights and fan - with no movement from the "thing" - Colin went out and snapped a couple pictures.

Seriously?  What is that?  Not a bat or snake (thank goodness!) My brother guessed owl.  I was wishing I had an iphone (with an app for identifying critters).  But I love Sprint - can't switch - even for an iphone. 

Last night we went to Colin's lawyer's league softball game and then out for pizza with the team.  We got home about 8:30 so it was already dark.  Critter was back.  ARRRGGGH.  I turned on the light and the fan again - but he didn't move.  We put Connor to bed and then Colin went out to investigate.  There was the same one (pictured above) and another one in a 2nd corner of the deck.  SERIOUSLY??

My brother came over to check out the situation.  We were really just so annoyed.  Maybe it was baby hawks??  2 on one side - finally revealing their heads after the paparazzi show Colin was putting on . . .

I called wildlife rescue this morning to see if they would come out and "rescue" the critters.  I sent them the pictures Colin took.  They called back to tell me we were blessed with Carolina Wren Songbirds - they roost at night and leave by daybreak.  No nest - just sleeping on our deck.  No problem.

Um, except that it is OUR deck - not theirs!!!  I have plenty of trees and birdhouses (left by prior owner) for the CWSs to roost in and on.  GO AWAY!

My dad came over tonight to help me put up some hardware cloth - which btw isn't cloth at all - it is smaller than chicken wire and stronger than screen.  We hope it sends the message.  I am actually videoing the corner in question at the moment to see if the birds try to roost again.  I'll watch it back tomorrow and provide an update.  I actually put the camera on HD night vision - to make sure I capture the attempt and failure (we hope!)

Gettysburg 10 years later . . .

A few weekends ago, Colin and I flew up to Baltimore, with Connor - actually, we rarely fly together anymore - sad, I know. But, Colin doesn't like to miss work (so he takes the late flight) and I prefer to fly during nap time. So Connor and I took the afternoon flight. Everything was going smoothly (i.e. Connor slept the ENTIRE flight - I had to wake him up after everyone was off the plane!) until I got to the rental car pickup. I could not install the car seat. I am actually pretty swift at installing the car seat but I could not get it to work. I was POURING sweat - it was like 105 degrees in the parking deck. Connor was being so good considering . . . and Colin's step dad arrived to watch him while I took care of the car situation. I ended up having to switch rental cars - and I got the seat installed in about 3 minutes. Of course, as soon as we were in the car, it started storming - but, we were in the car and headed to Cait and Greg's house. I swore I wouldn't fly without Colin again . . . but I know I will - nap time is way more important that struggling with a car seat. Note: Impalas are not car seat friendly.

We settled in for the night and woke up bright and early on Friday to head to Gettysburg. Connor stayed with his Pop Pop and Grandma Cathy on Friday night and his Mom Mom on Saturday night while Colin and I enjoyed a weekend an hour away up in Gettysburg for my 10 year college reunion. Wow! 10 YEARS. I absolutely loved Gettysburg - although only about 60 people returned from our class this time, some of my favorites were there.

The roomies (Me, Allison, Amy, Caitlin)



The husbands





Jim and Lisa showed up too - both G'burg grads - (Lisa is the amazing photographer over at LISA

One Year Later . . . .

One Year Ago Today Colin started his job here in Alabama. I cannot believe we have been here a year. Seriously, this past year has really flown by. Connor will be 2 in 2 months! Yikes - need to start thinking about a party. Anyway, we have been meaning to make a post about the things we miss most from Maryland vs. the things we love about our new address. A year later, I decided we might as well sit down and come up with the lists. In no particular order (after friends and family, of course), here are our lists. I'm sure as soon as I post, I will think of more . . . but I can't wait any longer - or it will be 2011.

WE MISS:
Friends & Family
Our Kitchenaid French Door Fridge (EVERY.SINGLE.DAY)
Dunkin Donuts Coffee (I don't however miss the tiny crowded parking lot)
Going to 10 Ravens Home Games each year (Ok, Colin misses this more than I do)
Coaching St. Mark Basketball Team (I do miss watching those games)
Living on Ivy League Drive (& its proximity to Cait, Greg, Tommy, Kristy, & Rolling Road Golf Club)
Eggspectations (so delicious - if you live in MD and haven't been -you must go!)
Sorrentos pizza and Milkshakes
Chef Paolino's Greek Salad
Catonsville Fireworks
Towson Hot Bagels (we went 2 weekends ago - makes me want to open a bagel shop - but I don't want to have to wake up at 4 am - hmmm)
Crabs, Crabcakes, Old Bay (this is all Colin - since I don't eat Crabs)
Smith Island Cake - 10 layers of deliciousness!
6% sales tax
Chammps Southwestern Caesar Salad without dressing
Preakness
ACC College Hoops (all Colin)
Gibbons Basketball (sadly Colin's high school was closed in May for good)
Peapod (grocery delivery)

BUT WE LOVE:
Friends and Family
The Weather - HOT without SNOW
Grits & Biscuits(no more Oatmeal and Toast - seriously, ya'll don't know what you are missin')
Traffic (Pretty much doesn't exist here - yet we hit traffic in Baltimore at 11 am)
2 car garage - PRICELESS
Zaxbys (Colin)
The BBQ (Colin)
Sweet Tea
Proximity to Lake and Beach
Good College Football (i.e. SEC - or anything but the ACC, please!)
Central Time (I love this more than Colin)
Our Covered Deck
Buying Wine and Beer at the Grocery Store and Gas Station
An HVAC that actually works really well (I'm definitely jinxing it)
Farmers Markets Open Daily
Good Mexican Food
DIRECTV - It has been a WONDERFUL year without Comcast - WONDERFUL
Pleasant Grocery Store Shopping (clean, polite, helpful)

A picture for this post - The Brothers (Mike, Colin, Neal and of course Connor)

22 Months

This past month Connor has really picked up his speaking. He can spell his name. He has actually been doing this for about a month and a half but just within the past 2 weeks he spells it himself and includes both "N's". He uses mainly 2 word "sentences" to communicate now. Although I try to get 3 words out of him, he will resist (usually) and just pick 2 of the 3 words I want him to say. Cute and funny. Ex: I fed Connor Chicken Soup with Stars and then Chicken Soup with Cars (pasta). Instead of saying "soup with stars or soup with cars" he says emphatically "mommy" "soup, stars" or "soup, cars". Our other favorite thing is the fact that Connor will answer any question you ask him. If he doesn't know the answer, he has a canned reply which sounds something like "HMGAWAH". It is the "correct" reply for anything that he doesn't know the answer to.

Speaking of emphatic (aka bossy). Connor insists on doing pretty much everything "self". It started right after we got back from a visit to Baltimore (more on that later) and hasn't stopped. He must walk up and down stairs "self", he must feed himself soup "self". "Mommy, Self" are the 2 most often used words - Elmo is a close 2nd. So, going along with his new found independence, I innocently inquired as to whether Connor wanted to take a nap "by self"? Too good to be true? Yep. We are making progress with the nap. He is laying on the floor in his room with a pillow and the snuggie as a blanket - george in one arm and elmo close by. The catch is that I must lie next to him with my own pillow and blanket. Good news, I get a nap, bad news . . . still no time for getting anything done around the house. But we have moved out of the nap chair and on the way to transitioning to a big boy bed.

On that note, Colin and I (with the help of my parents) moved our office from the room that adjoins Connor to the giant multi-multi purpose room downstairs. We decided after 11 months of not using the office for fear of waking Connor, we should move the furniture so we can actually get some work done and (gasp, file some paperwork - I have an embarrassingly full file drawer of "to be filed". After some work, the transition is complete. Next step, getting a mattress for the old office and move nap from floor to comfy mattress. Baby steps.

PS - I am still holding out hope that Connor will want to nap "self" soon.

Welcome C3

My cousin and his wife welcomed C3 (aka baby Campbell) last week. He was several weeks early but weighed in at Connor's full term stats. Healthy baby boy. Congrats!

Bubbles . . .

Click here to view this video

Our Big Fat Greek Weekend

We spent Memorial Day weekend at the Lake. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. The weather wasn't perfect as I had hoped . . . but we had a great time. The weekend started off a little rough. My mom and I were unpacking the car and coolers on Friday afternoon. Connor was busy (as usual) getting into EVERYTHING. I had one eye on Connor and the other on trying to get his lunch ready to "Eat, Eat, Eat" (Connor speak). I turned my back for literally 1/2 second and when I turned back around it was too late. Connor had the Windex bottle and nozzle pointed directly at his little face and he pulled the trigger. As a side note, I honestly didn't know my mom kept Windex in the pantry - who does that? Connor is ok. He got a face wash and some lunch and a nap and was back to new again.

Connor has been asking to blow bubbles nearly every day. So, in anticipation of this request, I bought this little airplane that blows bubbles when you press a button. This is perfect for 2 reasons. Connor LOVES buttons (& bubbles) and since he hasn't mastered the concept of blowing bubbles yet - he can now press and get bubbles. He LOVED it. Video Coming Soon. In the meantime . . .

Some pictures from the weekend. Connor was a boat captain


Passenger


Giggler


Player



and a swimmer


He certainly loves the water - I am sure of this because the pool water was COLD!

My Guys
(Sweet)

(Playing)

(This is a game Colin started before Connor weighed 27 pounds - but Connor loves it- Click on the picture to make it bigger and see Colin's expression - priceless!)