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Monday, February 27, 2017

Conway Turns Three!!



Conway at 3 Years
Height/Length: 38.3in (69%)
Weight: 33lb 10oz (69%)
BMI: 16.1 (54%)

Conway Benjamin Totten is now three years old and I'm not really sure where the time went! Sometimes he seems so grown up and then the next moment he does or says something that reminds me just how little and young he still is. His birthday celebration basically spanned the entire weekend. On Saturday he had a party at The Little Gym with a few friends and family. He ran, bounced and jumped to his hearts content and enjoyed pizza and a Paw Patrol cake. Then on Sunday, his actual birthday, he basically got to play with his visiting cousins the entire day. Oh, and he got to dictate most of the meals on his birthday. For breakfast: waffles with butter and syrup of course. For dinner: mini corn dogs with ketchup and mustard, french fries, and tomatoes. And for dessert: a milkshake!

And here are a few of the most notable things about Conway at age 3:
  • He is full of DRAMA. Everything is dramatic (read: whining, falling to the floor in despair as if the world is ending). His fork falls on the floor during dinner - drama! His orange mittens are in the wash so he only has his gray mittens - drama!
  • He really likes the word no and to be generally disagreeable and defiant for what seems to be the sole purpose of simply being disagreeable and defiant. Sometimes reverse psychology works. Sometimes he catches on to the reverse psychology, though, which either leads to drama (see above) or a devilish little 'I'm on to you' smile.
  • Teddy is still his most loved possession.
  • One of his favorite things to do is rest on the couch with Teddy, Sleep Sack, and Blanket. He basically just lays down and cuddles with them and he does this for pretty long stretches of time. It's pretty cute/funny.
  • He also loves riding his scooter and he's getting really good at it. So good in fact that he isn't willing to try the balance bike anymore. We'll see if we can get him back on that thing ever again.
  • A few of Conway's favorite books recently: Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats, There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.
  • Whenever we sit on the couch to read a book together (which is several times a day) he asks if I'll put my arm around him. And of course the answer to that question will always and forever be, "Yes!"
  • His vocabulary is amazing. He pronounces his Ls as Ws, but that's about it as far as mispronunciations.
  • He likes to refer to himself as "this guy". As in, "Mama, do you know who loves Teddy? This guy!" (while pointing at himself)
  • Conway has picked up Parker's habit of starting sentences with "Sooooo...".
  • He went through a pretty good phase of finding endless scenarios in which to use the word impossible. Me: "Conway, it's time for breakfast." Conway: "Oh, that's impossible!!"
  • Conway continues to love wearing accessories and he basically won't leave the house without his mittens these days. Now that he has prescription eye glasses that he wears all the time he can't pick out a different pair of sunglasses to wear each time we go outside - drama!
  • He is a lover of sweets - cake, cupcakes, pie, cookies, donuts, milkshakes - he doesn't discriminate. This probably isn't hugely different than most kids his age, but it is very different than what we were use to with Parker at age 3. Oh, to be a younger brother.
  • His favorite foods are basically any dessert, waffles, corn dogs, fries, ketchup and really anything that can give him an excuse to ask for ketchup, cheesy pasta, sausage, shrimp, peanut butter and apricot jelly sandwiches, tomatoes (which he no longer calls "no-no's" - sad), and basically any fruit except kiwi. Oh, and he ate almost an entire red bell pepper the other day at lunch.
  • Sometimes Conway enjoys showing Monroe his toys, but rarely does he actually want Monroe to play with them. He basically just wants Monroe to watch him play.
  • We think he's ready to give up diapers, but he thinks otherwise. He basically tells us every time he's going #1 or #2 and then insists on being changed right away. But of course he doesn't want to go directly in the toilet, even with some pretty sizable offers of bribery. See earlier notes on him being disagreeable.
  • Conway is still sleeping in a crib, which we've slid into the lower bunk position of the boys' bunk beds. He consistently naps from about 1:00 to 3:30 each day and he's out like a light at nap time. At the end of the day he rolls around, talks, and sings quite a bit, though, which can be a challenge since he and Parker share a room.
  • Usually I have to wake Conway up from his nap at 3:30 and after giving him a few minutes to shake off the sleep on his own I lift him out of his crib for one of my favorite parts of the day with Conway. He lays his head on my shoulder, puts his arms loosely around me, and just cuddles. It really is the best, most lovely thing.
Happy Birthday Conway! We love you!!































Saturday, February 25, 2017

Mid-Winter Break Photos


Well, the week didn't start out great as our house was infiltrated by the flu, but we did get to spend some good time with Grandma Connie and Great Grandma Lois while David took his flu with him on his golf trip 😕. Conway has declared that the funny people in his life are Uncle Damo, Grandpa Terry, and Great Grandma Lois. I can't disagree.

{Parker spent the better part of two whole days in this position. So sad and yet so sweet}

{While Parker was sick Conway was in heaven with all the cars to himself}


{When the kids were feeling better we took a trip to the zoo}


{❤}

{A bike ride to the playground is almost a necessity in the afternoon with these crazy boys}

{Monroe takes a while to warm up to people these days, but eventually he can be won over 😊}

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Hey, Guys!


Monroe is eager to get in on the action with his big brothers.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Monroe Is 8 Months Old


Monroe has a lot of new stuff going on lately. Check it out...

First up: sleep. He/we dropped the dream feed(!) which means that he now sleeps from about 7:30pm to about 7:30am. I was a little nervous to do this because he'd been sleeping so nicely from the 10:00 dream feed until morning, but I started to just feel like it was time. So, we pulled the trigger and besides a couple little shout-outs the first few nights, he hasn't looked back. We're still in the process of dropping his third nap, which basically means that he takes a third nap about every other day. It's actually easier for me when he takes the third nap because it's right when I'm making dinner and lets just say it's a bit easier to make dinner without a (tired) baby vying for my attention.

Next: crawling. Yep, the kid is on the move and he's generally pretty pleased with his new accomplishment. It felt like it was on the cusp of happening for so long and now he is unstoppable. He loves to follow his brothers around (which they have varying degrees of patience for) and keeping the doors to stairs closed is already a challenge. When Conway started crawling, we just child-proofed those doors so that Parker couldn't open them. The child-proofing doesn't work on Parker anymore, though, so it takes a lot more vigilance from us grown-ups. Watching Monroe crawl from one thing to next, move to a sitting position to play with whatever he found, and then crawl to the next thing he fancies is pretty fun to watch.

Also: he's an eating machine. Monroe hasn't mastered picking up food with his thumb and pointer finger (the pincer grip), but no matter. He just gets whatever piece of food is in front of him in his fist, puts his whole hand in his mouth, and opens it. It doesn't look real graceful, but it does seem to be working for him. Mostly he's still partial to eating pureed foods, but he'll put bits of just about anything that's put in front of him into his mouth.

And then: separation anxiety. Monroe loves his Mama. What can I say? We spend a lot of time together. Don't get me wrong. He certainly loves his Papa as well and he's  still pretty generous with his smiles for almost anyone. Much of the time, though, if he sees me he wants to be touching me in some way even if that simply means laying across my lap while I sit on the floor.

Oh, and: another tooth. One of Monroe's top, front teeth is coming in and it's been a rough several days. Maybe the teething is at least partially to blame for his newfound need to be held all the time - or at least I hope so.

Finally: he's still cute. Just in case you were wondering. 😊



Tuesday, February 7, 2017

#SnowDay


Our first official snow day! We got a few inches, the boys' school was cancelled, and they could not have been happier!