Sweet Home Alabama . . .

So, much to our disappointment, Alabama just won the National Championship. Uggh. You may wonder why people from Alabama don't want Alabama to win . . . well, you kinda have to be from here to understand. But, as self-respecting Auburn fans . . . we root for Auburn and ANYONE who plays Alabama. I know, we should cheer for the SEC (they have 4 straight titles) but . . . as a true fan . . . you just can't do it when it is Alabama . . . and Saban . . . It ended up being a pretty good game to watch if you saw the 1st and 4th quarters . . . the misery lies in the fact that Colin (since he works) will have to endure Alabama banter for 365 days (at least). At halftime I just was hoping for a good game. I mean, really, I stayed up to watch this?? Auburn should have beaten Alabama in the Iron Bowl . . . uggghhh! I do have a number of friends that paid and made the trip to Pasadena - so at least they are having fun right? I will give props to Alabama for having red Gatorade in the cooler (rather than lemon-lime). Happy 13 to U of A! See you next November! Saban . . . as a Dallas Cowboys Coach - would be HOT!!!! (as a side note . . . I just don't get the reason to hold up 4 fingers at the start of the 4th quarter . . . um . . .EVERYONE knows it is the 4th quarter! It is like basketball when the coaches and players yell (NO FOULS!!!) really?? I mean, after years and years of playing the game - don't you know not to foul? Did I mention that RED is SOOO not my color?
Another side note: If Alabama played USC (i.e. Cali) I would have cheered for Alabama
UPDATE: Seriously, people are shooting off FIREWORKS! I suppose left over from NYE? They better not wake up my BABY!! The real question is how many PAGES will Alabama get in the newspaper?? Yesterday it was a good 20 pages according to Colin . . . Tomorrow - likely 40+

KING Connor

Connor got a castle from his Mom Mom this year for Christmas. It is so cute (it is black and white - I love b&w - Connor's nursery decor is b&w). As part of the castle, Connor also got a crown to wear as King of the castle. Presenting King Connor . . .

Snow Day . . . (in Alabama)

Yep - Today is a snow day - for Alabama. Seriously, I think every school closed early or didn't even open today. People left early from Colin's work. The meteorologists were predicting the snowfall as a dusting to a quarter inch this morning. I took 2 pictures of the snow so everyone north of Alabama that reads our blog could have a glimpse of snow in Alabama.

You didn't see the snow ??? I circled it for you!

New Year . . . New Members

There are so many new things that I want to explore and share with Connor . . . I wanted to sign him up for a mommy-and-me class at CDF where I used to attend classes when I was little. Well, I waited a little too long to sign up and classes started this morning. So, I need to find another option for us (once it warms up). I feel badly complaining that it is cold here - because it will only be cold for a few weeks - but it is COLD! Wind chill is 5 degrees this morning! So, we have been staying inside. Plus, since Connor has been sick with a cold and ear infection - we haven't been out too much at all lately. I really love our new house - but we need to get out and moving soon! After watching a very stressful and bizarre Auburn win on Friday, my parents and I headed downtown with Connor to the McWane Science Center on Saturday (Colin was playing golf - in 20 degree weather - dedication or insanity?). Since the Science Center is indoors - we were able to explore outside of our house for a few hours - which was wonderful. Connor had an amazing time! And I purchased a family membership so we can all enjoy the "inside fun" on cold and/or rainy days. Here are a few pics of Connor at McWane . . .
Getting ready to see the trains . . .

GIANT LITE-BRITE . . .


The Fishes . . .


Connor LOVES to push buttons - If it hadn't been so crowded, I think he would have run back and forth between each of these stations for hours . . .


MY FAVORITE PIC FROM THE DAY . . . SUCCESS!

New Year . . . Old Friends . . .

We were very fortunate to have my parents watch Connor while we enjoyed an evening out with friends. Greg and Caitlin were in town for the weekend and we loved catching up with them. This is the first time since I met Caitlin (other than our sophmore year of high school) that we have lived more than 30 miles from each other. We were roommates all 4 years of college and for the last 2 years lived on the same street. Leaving her was harder than I think I ever actually admitted - even to myself. We/I (no We) miss her and her family terribly. It was so nice to see them! Our friends Chrissy and Josh didn't have a sitter for their little one so they hosted a small party. We all had a fabulous time (oh, and the baby didn't wake up until after everyone left!)Chelle and Rod (soon to be newlyweds), Us, Caitlin and Greg, Chrissy and Josh (hosts).

A few Christmas pics . . .

Colin's mom and step-dad visited us for the week of Christmas. It was wonderful to have them here and celebrate our first Christmas in our new home with them. Following tradition, we had Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's house with my brother, aunt and uncle, and grandmother. We have El Grande our own mexican fiesta and then open presents from each other. This may be offensive to those of you who wait for Christmas morning to open gifts. But I love this tradition! A few blogs I stalk suggested that it was difficult to get their kids to open gifts after seeing what Santa brought. Our tradition eliminates that problem by having Santa only gifts on Christmas morning. Anyway, we start youngest and work our way up to oldest (i.e. Connor opened his gifts first) and my grandmother opened her's last. In the past we have modified the gift tradition, sometimes starting with the oldest and working our way backwards. In any event, I love this method because instead of traditional Christmas morning chaos - we still have the chaos on Christmas morning but get to enjoy watching the gifts we purchased for our family - opened and admired. It was slightly more difficult this year since Connor is so young and it was getting past his bed time.

This is Connor's usual position for playing with toys (squatting) - he must have thighs of steel. Anyway, nice hair pic too - (Colin was in charge of him Christmas morning)


Grandad Bob, Mom Mom, Connor and Colin on Christmas Day


Connor with his new Duplos from Great Aunt Ethlyn - he loves them! (Funny though he has dumped all the legos out of the container and is just so proud to be carrying the box)


Connor and his buggy - (you may call it a shopping cart - but it is a buggy down here). Connor is spiking the Cheerios into the buggy - serious shopper! Connor's Nina special ordered this gift - it is sooo cute (plus ya'll know how much I love grocery shopping!)

Being a little lazy/ tired I am cramming a few extra pics into this post. Here is the other picture we got the Santa at Bass Pro (luckily both pics were free)



And our Christmas Card - this year - as most of you should have received your card - if not - maybe it was lost in the mail - I received an empty envelope today from Colin's Aunt and Uncle - the card literally fell out of the envelope (which had been sliced on all sides but otherwise was in good condition) - Odd that the envelope was able to arrive in good condition without the card . . .

Merry Christmas!

Sugar and Spice . . . and Santa

Connor's new thing is "organizing" the spice cabinet. I tried to get a good picture of his handy work - but was not successful. At first I resisted allowing him free reign over the spice cabinet (mainly because some spices are in glass jars) but in order to get a few things accomplished during the day (i.e. while he is occupied with the spices) I gave in. I removed all the glass jars and just let him go to town. He loves it. Sunday morning we made the dry mix for the Gingerbread men we will make later this week when Colin's mom gets into town. Connor got to actually use the spices. He also unfortunately learned how to open the spices. I am hoping he forgets tonight (although unlikely).

Connor still has a cold (runny nose - helped along by lots of nose drops) and an ear infection (not sure if it is a continuation of the first ear infection or a 2nd one) but he has it. He has been on meds since Wednesday and I think is feeling better although he is still super congested. Poor guy. I got a Christmas card from my friends Brian and Iana (blog "A Ham Full") and it says "Wishing for a Silent Night" - how true is that? Well, they have 3 kids under 3. We just have our Connor but he is just not a sleeper. He finally got the hang of it (i.e. I wasn't expecting to be woken up at night) when he got sick and now we aren't sure if he will ever sleep through the night again. Nearly all of our friends with kids (younger and older and same age as Connor) have kids that rarely wake up - ever. We actually baby sat (i.e. watched him on the video monitor) for Will when we were back in Baltimore visiting . . . he was easy - never peeped. 10 minutes after his parents left the house a huge tow truck pulled up right in front of the house (and thus right outside his window) and it proceeded to unload a car for 50 minutes - VERY LOUDLY! Will didn't move! What a great little sleeper. We have determined that although Connor can sleep - when he tries and isn't sick - he isn't that kind of sleeper. Luckily Connor was in the basement with the sound machine and didn't peep until after the tow truck left.

Connor has also learned the word "no". He actually learned it several weeks ago and I am just now getting around to writing about it - mainly since he has been sick and will not nap in his crib at nap time - leaving me little time (when Colin isn't using the laptop at night and I am not exhausted) to update the blog. Anyway, it is so hilarious. For now, all is no's are pretty sweet and innocent.

Me: "Connor do you want to take a bath?"
Connor: "Naa" (while shaking his head)

Me: "Connor do you want to take a nap?"
Connor: "Naa" (while shaking his head)

If you ask him what the Doctor says about monkeys jumping on the bed . . . he will say "Naa Naa" while waving his finger back and forth.

Oh, and since it has taken me nearly a week to publish/ finish updating this post. Connor doesn't like SANTA. We waited in a very short line on Tuesday night at the local mall for the "best looking SANTA" (according to Aunt Cathy). Well, Santa may be good looking (debatable if you ask me) but Connor wasn't looking his best. He loved Santa all the way up until my arms left him in Santa's lap. Seriously, he was waving at Santa, clapping for Santa, eating his sugar cookie and "talking" to Santa . . . and then . . .



So today, I set out to obtain a better picture with Santa. I took Connor back to Bass Pro (where his picture with Santa was last year) and we talked about Santa, and looked at last year's picture with Santa, played with a Santa hat . . . I waited in a 30 minute line while my MIL and Bob played with Connor/ shopped in the store. Connor was same ol' same ol' - seemingly excited to see Santa, clapping, smiling, eating his snack . . .he actually seemed like he was going to run to Santa. 5 steps into the run he stopped and turned to make a break for the door. I grabbed him up, gave him a kiss, plopped him in Santa's lap and the result was the same (maybe worse). I'll scan that picture later for the blog. For now, Merry Christmas (almost eve) and lets hope for a semi-silent night (the monitor is starting to make noise as I type) - At least he is a sweet baby boy . . . Night, Night.