the connors family: 2008

Caroline's Seventeenth Month

>> Tuesday, December 30, 2008 – Caroline, monthly updates

Month 17 saw our little girl showing more and more proof that she is just that - a little girl, and no longer the baby we held just a few months ago.

She continues to be extraordinarily verbal, and not only repeats the last 3 words that anybody says (a skill that has quickly turned into a lesson - for the good and the bad - for mom and dad), but has an independent vocabulary of more than 300 words. Quite the chatty one. Some favorites from the month include:

quesadilla (girl loves some quesadilla)
pico de gallo (oh yeah, she loves that too)
mushroom (do you see a theme?)
alligator (in fairness, it sounds more like "agilator")elevator (see pronunciation of "alligator")

She counts to 12 in English with ease (video coming soon), and with a little help, can count to 10 in Spanish too. She knows most of the ABC song (and many of the sounds letters make), and has memorized a majority of her books. Caroline always loves to sing, but "Jingle Bells" was this month's appropriately themed favorite ("Gingle Bulls! Gingle Bulls!...")

We are amazed at what such a little person remembers. She identifies all grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins with ease, and has developed quite the crush on one of the boys at the Morris house, but not the one you might think. Her love for Clay's daddy is illustrated by her nearly constant request to see "Pictures Bob" (pictures of Bob), and the coy play she puts on for him (but only him) when the families meet. Though this fleeting crush is, well, hilarious, it does not make us wish for her to be 13.

So enough of the bragging on the brilliance of our daughter. On to some photo highlights of the month!

11-28-08 Visiting the Natural History Museum

12-07-08 Showing a proclivity for two things: climbing in

things, and walking around in a diaper

12-10-08 Concentration

12-13-08 Yummy, yummy

12-20-08 She's "coo-ool"

17 whole months old

Randomness...

>> Tuesday, December 23, 2008 – random updates

It has come to our attention that here we are, in the waning days of December (and 2008), and there hasn't been a single blog entry for the month!*Not to worry though - lots of fun updates to come in the next few days.

In the mean time, here are a few photos to tide Connors Family Blog followers over until then...

*We're blaming the killer rotavirus that has been ravaging Washington, DC and the Connors family as the culprit for all schedule and update-related mishaps

Gobble Gobble!

>> Friday, November 28, 2008 – Caroline, holidays

Happy Thanksgiving from the Connors!

We have SO much to be thankful for - our wonderful friends, our jobs, our health, our happiness, our family, and of course this little thing:

C and Daddy took an EARLY morning trip to pick up dinner - a great time was had by all (well, maybe not the lobsters. They look suspicious already).

After navigating the Bethesda YMCA Turkey Chase (in the car, not on foot) to return home, CEC continued to help mom and dad with the holiday preparations.

Mmmm... What time to we eat?

Making sure we document every time this happens

We were soon joined by friends (and newlyweds!) John David and Lucy White, who brought yummy drinks and food for the first of our mid-day meals, but who managed to avoid being captured on film.

Finally, dinner time. CEC enjoyed peas and potatoes, but the favorite of the day was definitely the pumpkin pie - or as she said, "MUFFIN!"

We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday - we missed you all!

Caroline's Sixteenth Month

>> Monday, November 24, 2008 – Caroline, monthly updates

Yep - our little girl now has a whole 16 months under her belt.... and she has accomplished so much in such a short time!

To recap the month (which must have flown by pretty quickly, since there weren't as many pictures to choose from at all!):

Caroline continues to talk up a storm, adding new words - and now, phrases - every day. In fact, according to MacArthur & Bates (whomever they may be), she's up to 180 words. And their list doesn't even include some CEC favorites, such as "hippo," "BRAVO," "bless you," "action," "lotion," "turkey," "bucket," or new favorite, "SANTA."

She consistently counts to 10 and will perform on demand - mostly for her biggest fans (grandparents) - as long as plenty of "WOWs" and "Bravos" follow. And occasionally, just for kicks, she'll go to 12.

It appears that this apple didn't fall far from her mommy's family tree - the girl loves the phone! Recent conversation overheard (one-sided of course) after she had absconded to a not so secret locale with the family phone:

Caroline: "Heddo."
Caroline: "I fine."
Caroline: "OK. OK. OK."
Caroline: "Buh bye."

Hilarious.

Finally, on to the photos:

11-05-08 Snuggling with her pal

11-18-08 Read to me, Daddy

11-22-08 Doing a little shopping

11-23-08 All dressed up for church

11-24-08 Guess what? I'm 16 months old!

She gets sweeter by the day; something we didn't think was even possible. Definitely a great time to be giving Thanks

Alabama Here We Come!

>> Friday, November 21, 2008 – Caroline, vacation

All DC-area Connors (well all that we know of anyway) headed South this weekend to witness the nuptials of friends Lucy House and John David White near Decatur, Alabama. And lucky for all 3 of us, Grandma and Grandpa Beaumont went above and beyond the call of grandparent-duty and made the trip North to meet us and to have a weekend-long slumber party with their oldest's oldest.

CEC's mom and dad didn't manage to snap a single photograph during the entire trip. No pictures of the beautiful wedding, no pictures of C living it up with her grandparents, no pictures of our friends... not even a picture of us all dressed up for the fancy fete. Nothing.

Luckily, Grandma B was true to form and caught some fun moments (notice that she is not in a single picture. The poor life of the family photographer!).

A few chilly, but FUN walks around town

Saturday brought a trip-within-the-trip as CEC and grandparents headed to Franklin, TN to see Aunt Jake and Uncle Doug, and cousins, cousins, cousins!

Caroline and her 2 of the Wiseman boys - her 3rd cousins!

Having some lunch with Krista

If the above picture looks familiar, remember - these two beautiful girls have been buddies from the very beginning. As in, the very beginning:

Yep, same two girls. Lucky CEC!

Bring on the next vacay! :)

They Did the Mash...

>> Tuesday, November 4, 2008 – Caroline, holidays

... it was the Monster Mash!

Actually, not too many monsters at this Halloween celebration, but lots of ladybugs, bees, princesses, Pooh bears, and sweet fairies - including our own little pixie!

Caroline's celebration started with a school party with all of her buddies, and tons of yummy snacks. In fact, our fairy managed to score not one, but an unheard of two cookies. And if you look closely, she was so proud of the prize that she held on to both - at once - for dear life. Nothing like double fisting the Soft Batch.

After eating and parading, it was on to Rory's house for actual trick or treating. Rory's sister Phoebe led the way, while the little girls strolled (literally) behind.

After a long exciting day, our fairy collapsed - no doubt filled with dreams of a place filled with Indians, pirates, and crocodiles, and where you never have to grow up. Sweet dreams little girl!

Caroline's Fifteenth Month

>> Monday, October 27, 2008 – Caroline, monthly updates

Ladies and Gentlemen... We have a full fledged toddler on our hands.

She still thinks every day is a party just for her, and with few exceptions, lives life with a big toothy smile on her face. Her enthusiasm for life is limited only by how far and fast those short legs can take her -

CEC is talking up a storm, with a vocabulary has gone through the roof - so much so that mommy quit keeping track of new words ages ago. She amazes her teachers at school, other parents, and her doctor with all she has to say. Recent accomplishments include counting to 5 out of the blue (and two instances where she went all the way to 10). Yep - all by herself and out of the blue.

She knows lots of animals and the sounds they make ("oo oo monkey" and "whoo whoo owl" are popular refrains) and can identify some letters and numbers too. Favorites include O, P, and S, and the numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, and all-time favorite, 8.

Walking is now running, twirling, bending, ducking, and dancing - mostly with either mom or dad about 2 steps behind, trying to catch her before she gets into anything crazy (like, you know - the liquor cabinet. We are mean).

There is so much to say about how wonderful she is that mommy could go on forever. Lest we bore our dedicated readers... On to the stats!

32” tall (90th percentile)*
26 lbs, 7 ounces (just over the 90th)
Head circumference of 19” inches (90th percentile)
And we're up to a total of 14 and 2 1/2s** teeth.

Watching her grow - in both body and spirit - brings so much happiness to our lives.

Oh - and have I mentioned...?

Perfect in every way... :)

*Close Connors Family Blog observers may notice that it appears our star is shrinking. At her 12 month appt., she was 32.5" - a loss of .5" in 3 months! But, we were skeptical of that measurement even then, as home measurements had recorded a more modest 31". Dr. Hawkins noted that the 12 month measurement was probably not the most accurate. We feel much more confident this time around, so we're going to go with it!
**14 teeth are totally in; 2 are halfway in

Caroline's Cousins

>> Tuesday, October 21, 2008 – random updates

Mommy was off to Florida this weekend to visit Caroline's cousin Sam and to meet the aforementioned newest members of the Ray family, Madeline and Leslie.

Though leaving her in Daddy's able hands, mommy was worried about being away from her (not so) baby girl for the first time. And she must have known it, too since she promptly spiked a fever which lasted the whole weekend (poor Daddy!).

While no cameras were available to capture the weekend's activities (mostly convalescence) in DC, there were plenty of photo ops in Jacksonville Beach.

Not sure how I got them both up here, but it's pretty hard to beat

Pretty polka-dots

Snoozy girls - Madeline (left) and Leslie

The 3 Ray Girls: Sally, Maddie, and Leslie

There were visitors galore! Sam, Leslie and Madeline (and their mom and dad) got visits from not only Aunt Sarah, but also Grandma and Grandpa Beaumont, and from Papa Ray and Uncle Jonathan - all in one weekend!

A twin holds his twin granddaughters

Madeline loves Uncle Jonathan

In additon to snuggling with those two beautiful girls, Aunt Sarah loved hanging out with big brother Sam - This super-smart little boy could win any heart in 2 seconds flat, and it took a lot less than that to wrap "Aunt Sadah" around his finger.

Blue eyes, green shirts

This kid is the best!

And if you liked that one, you're going to LOVE this one...

Grandma gets in on the Silly

Mommy returned to a much-better-feeling Caroline - to nobody's surprise, completely recovered under the care of her favorite guy.

Dancing Queen

>> Sunday, October 12, 2008 – Caroline, random updates

Ever the trendy one, Caroline rocked it out at Baby Loves Disco this weekend. The pint sized dance party (or more accurately - dance party for the pint-sized) included lots of favorites: snacks, music, lights, scarves, big bins of fun stuff, and an opportunity for the Star of Our Show to show off her moves.

After a post party nap, it was off to the next stop on the social circuit - this time at a fun cookout with Ana, Sofia, and Dani (and oh yeah - their parents, too).

Dinner is delish!