Photo Migration

We just about maxed out our space on Picasa, so we're migrating our photos to Flickr, where we have unlimited space. Please reset your bookmarks, favorites, etc and now visit our Flickr page to see all our photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdpapefamily/

We're still working on getting them organized into the most usable format, so let us know if you have questions or feedback!

Day Care Love

I love, love, love Conor's daycare. Thank goodness, because it makes my life a whole lot easier. I'd hate to be uncomfortable about where my child was spending a chunk of his day each day. I only work 20 hours per week -- 5 hours, 4 afternoons per week. Nevertheless, it's still very important to us that whoever is caring for Conor during this time gives him the same attention, care, and love that we would give him. I chose a home daycare very close to my work. There are 3 full time and 1 part time staff and up to 10 kids at any one time (though I don't think there have ever actually been 10 since Conor's been there).

Conor's daycare closes for the summer. They just reopened last week, and I think every single afternoon since last Tuesday, I've come home saying, "I love them!" They clearly pay so much attention to Conor and are attuned to all of his needs. They notice when he's tired, even if it doesn't align with my perfect schedule. I know that may not seem like a big deal, but believe it or not, many people do not correctly interpret a baby's signals and end up thinking they're hungry when they're really tired or that they're tired when they're really bored. Every morning when I drop him off, they ask all the right questions to make sure they have all the information they need to take the best care of him for the rest of the afternoon. They have all the greatest toys and are more than happy to share them with us. Late last week, they noticed that Conor loves their music table. He's trying very hard to pull himself up on it, as it's just the right height. I mentioned that the only thing we have at home that is the right height for him to try to pull up to standing is the bathtub. One of the women immediately said that she has the same music table in her basement collecting dust. (Her son is 3 and no longer uses it.) She is brining it in for us to bring home, so that Conor has one to play with in both places. And we still have the exersaucer that the sent home with us months ago! In addition, they take Conor outside every day that it's nice enough, so he gets lots of fresh air. And of course, he gets to interact with all the big kids, who he absolutely adores. Naturally, they adore him in return.

Since they've opened back up this year, they've started giving out "report cards" at the end of each day. Our daily report tells us what Conor ate and when, when he napped, and what activities he did during the day. We love getting all this detail on his day! It's especially nice for Mike, who isn't there at pick-up to hear the narrative report from them through conversation. It helps him feel like he still has some connection to Conor's day.

Today, my moment of love came when they asked me if I would mind if they moved Conor's crib into the guest bedroom. They've noticed that he's easily awakened. If the younger babies cry, the phone rings, the doorbell sounds, you name it -- he wakes up and can't get back to sleep. They feel bad on the days when something interrupts his sleep, and he ends up cranky and exhausted by the time I pick him up. Therefore, they thought it might help him if they let him nap in a room upstairs by himself with the shades drawn. I just about kissed them when they asked if I would mind. Would I mind?! Would I mind him being well rested? Would I mind him having the perfect napping conditions? Does the sun rise every morning? I love that they're willing to do absolutely anything to give Conor the very best.

So, let me shout it from the mountain tops -- I'm in love!!

And we're back

I could shower you will all the reasons why it's been a whole 3 1/2 months since I've posted. I could get down on my knees and beg your forgiveness. I could profess that it will never happen again. But, suffice it to say, juggling life with an infant, a busy job, and a house to keep up is no easy task! That said, I'm back and will try my darndest to make sure my next post is not 3 1/2 months from now. And the person I really need to ask forgiveness from is Conor. To make up for the poor chronicling of the past 3 1/2 months of his life, I'll do my best to recount all the excitement now.

When I last posted, Conor was 4 months old. Since then....

Conor began eating solids. You can see his first meal ever to the right -- some nice tasty rice cereal. At first, you have to make the cereal so liquidy that it's like feeding them soup -- not very easy. It took him a little while to take to eating solids. However, one day, he simply decided he liked eating solids, and he's been a chowhound since then. He now eats bananas, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, and peas, all in pureed form of course. We're making all of our own babyfood - or I should say, Mike is making all of our babyfood. Not only does it save a lot of money, but you know exactly what you're getting. Our freezer stays packed full of frozen babyfood. Conor's absolute favorite is peaches, and he was lucky enough to get a whole bundle of fresh peaches off of Grammy and Grampy's peach trees this summer.

Conor took his first vacation! Only July 4, we drove up to Alden Camps in Maine for the annual Pape family retreat. Conor got right into the Alden Camps mindset and spent nearly his entire time there eating and sleeping. He was a fabulous little traveler. He slept wonderfully in his portable crib

and tolerated the intrusions into his normal daily schedule. It was such a relaxing week, and Conor enjoyed getting to spend time with Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Jenny and Uncle John, Uncle Robby and Aunt Amy, and Auntie Chrissy. Of course, he used his great charm and smile to make everyone else there fall in love with him as well! He also got to dip his toes in East Pond for the first time, though the water was very chilly -- much too chilly for his 90 degree tastes! He did, however, enjoy his first boat ride on Grampy's boat!

Conor learned to roll over from his back to his tummy on July 13 at 5 1/2 months old.

Conor took his first plane ride when he and I traveled down to Nashville in July to visit Mimi, Popi, Uncle Jimmy, and Aunt Leah. He was an absolute first-class traveler. He was very quiet and happy on the flights, smiling at all the travelers around us and working his charm. He didn't have any issues at all with take-off or landing, which I was so thankful for! We had a great time in Nashville, and Conor learned that any time with Uncle Jimmy is a fun time!

While in Nashville, Conor celebrated his 6 month birthday. His form of celebration for the day? Learning how to sit all by himself!

Because he can sit up like a big boy now, Conor now gets to sit up in the bathtub. He loves playing with all of his toys in the tub, but the most entertaining activity of all is trying to stand up in the tub and climb out, something that Mommy and Daddy don't enjoy too much!

We worked Conor out of the swaddling blanket during the early part of August, and about a week before he turned 7 months old, he learned how to sleep through the night. He now goes to sleep around 6:45 PM each night and sleeps until 6:45 AM the next morning without a peep. It's so nice to actually get a full night's worth of sleep again! I still haven't quite relearned how to sleep through the night myself, but at least when I wake up, I can just roll over and go back to sleep.

Most recently, Conor learned to say "mama." Ok, it has no meaning when he says it. It's more of a babble of the syllable "ma" over and over again. He doesn't say it to get my attention or to show affection, and it probably doesn't count as a first word. But, still, he's saying "mama!" (Mike says this video makes it look like I'm withholding food until he performs. I swear, this was after eating! He just wants to get out of his highchair, but I had to catch his first "mama" on video first!)

And so I think that gets us pretty much up-to-date. It's pretty hard to cover all the excitement of 3 1/2 months with this little guy in one small post, but hopefully this shares just a taste of all that's been going on!