It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

We have been a busy little family with Christmas quickly approaching. With it being Conner's first Christmas we have been taking him to all the X-mas activities Fort Bragg has been putting on.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went and got our first Christmas tree as our new family! Conner loved grabbing all the trees and of course, trying to eat them too! Oh boy, does he love the lights!

Then, last Saturday we took him to see Santa for the first time! He didn't seem to mind him at all (but I think it was because Mrs. Claus handed him a candy cane, wrapped, of course!). We got a few good pictures of him with Santa :)
Also that night we got together with our good friends, The Nelepovitz and their two adorable boys, Nico and Elio. We went to Chinese food (Conner had his first taste...and well not much to our surprise...he loved it...boy loves to eat!)Then went downtown to watch the annual Lighted Truck Parade. Again, he loved all the cool lights and music. Fun night!

This Tuesday we went to the Botanical Gardens, which had been putting on a Festival of Lights for the first year so we, again, went with The Nelepovitz Family. It was so pretty seeing it all lite up at night.

Also on Tuesday, Conner turned 7 months!

And to top of all our fun Christmas adventures, Sean and I just purchased a new camera as a gift to ourselves (and each other) for Christmas. A Nikon D90 SLR. We LOVE it! We will never go back to just a regular point and shoot camera again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year...celebrated with friends and family.

Teeth

Our poor Conner has been teething like crazy the last few months...one tooth after the other. So far he has gotten both bottom middle teeth, one top tooth (the second is working on breaking through). It also looks like his 3rd bottom tooth is working it's way up.
Here is a cute picture of him with his little baby bottom teeth! (the top one is hard to catch on camera)

Mandy has been busy working away on tackling the wallpaper around the house. What a project that was...don't ever use wallpaper in your house! Not fun to remove (it can be done, but lots of work)
Here are a few pictures of the end result :)

PREPARING FOR THE LONG WINTER AHEAD. STORING UP ON FRESH GAME WHILE WE CAN

Conner turns 6 months!

Well, our little man turned 6 months on Sunday. We can't believe how fast time has gone. It feels like only yesterday that we found out we were pregnant.
We took Conner in for his 6 month Dr. check-up and he weighed in at 21 lbs. exactly! Such a big boy. He was way over average on his weight. He was 26 1/2 inches tall. Little above average.
Dr. Mahon (whom was both Sean and I's Dr. when we were growing up...pretty cool!) said he looked great. He was really impressed with how well he could sit up and the strength he has in his legs. (Holds himself really well!)
I had him check out Conner's new bottom teeth he has and low and behold...his top, right tooth is coming in too! No wonder we have been dealing with a rather cranky baby...poor little guy.

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween was Sunday so we took Conner trick-or-treating for his first Halloween! He was the cutest little lion we ever did see :-)
We just took him around to our families and friends. We got to see his cousins' Billy and Jossie, which was fun. We had to call it an early night because little man is getting his second tooth in so he was getting a bit cranky!

Moms, Pops and Tots!

Last night we had our first swim lessons with Conner. I have been waiting months for this day to come (the things that us parents get excited for now--hehe!)
We signed up for the class with a few of our close friends who have little boys as well. We all had a ton of fun. All the boys seemed to really enjoy themselves. Ethan in particular who splashed and splashed every chance he got ;-)
Sean wasn't able to get in (due to that darn poison oak) but Conner and I had a good time. He kick and splashed a few times!
We have class Mon./Wed. every week until the middle of Dec. so we are really looking forward to Conner improving and having fun in the water with us!

Painted Wall Art

This week I decided I needed to take on a project, so, I decided to paint murals in Conner's' room. I had SO much fun doing it. It took me all week (as I know most of you other mom's may know...things take just a bit longer with a baby!) but it is finally done!
Next up on my list of projects...remove the TERRIBLE wallpaper in the living room! I can do it :-)

The Wilhites

This last weekend Sean and I were honored to be a part of two of the most special people in our lives wedding, Shannon Mally and Matt Wilhite (also, Conners' Godparents!). It was single handedly the most beautiful wedding we have been apart of. We had such a wonderful time. Congrats to the Wilhites'...we love you both!

Beach Time!

Greetings!
I'm finally finding some time to catch up on the Cleary Clans' life. We've had a fun exciting (and exhausting) last couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago, we had gorgeous weather here, so we decided to take Conner to the beach for his first time.
We weren't sure how he was going to like it or what his reaction would be...well, he was Mr. Stone Face pretty much the entire time! At one point we decided to stick his little toes in the Ocean and still nothing...no cry, scream, skirm, face, nada. I guess it's safe to say he didn't not like it...just wasn't sure about it. We will try again :-)

Conner is 5 months today!!

We can't believe our little man is already 5 months...where has the time gone?! He has been such a blessing to us. Hard to imagine what our lives were like before we had him...it's like he has been with us forever!
As we stated before, Conner is such a strong, smart little guy. He can now sit up for long periods of time (when he isn't being stubborn and trying to fight it...by straightening his whole body! haha). I just purchased him an activity table and he loves it. He has such a great attention span for only being 5 months. We also discovered that he could hold himself up while holding on to his new table....that's when I took him and told him to "slow down, my little man....your doing everything too fast!"
He is still continuing to roll over from his back to his stomach but wont roll from stomach to back. Once he does this, I'm sure he'll be on his way to trying to crawl. Oh, I think we are going to have our hands full! But, we are ready :-)
Happy 5 months sweet boy...we love you so very very much!!

"Cry it out" Method

Well, after 45-50 mins of off and on crying (and screaming) :-( Conner finally put himself to sleep...the first 2 times we have tried at nap time didn't take long and he was out. It's going to be hard on this Momma, that's for sure.

Just some fun pictures to keep you up to date with what we have been up to...Enjoy!

First Buck!

Little Bear

Someone found his toes!!

Sweet Boy

Play time in the Jumperoo!

Camping at the cabin

Wedding in Tahoe!

All Smiles :)

Sean's 26th Birthday

Santa Cruz

Welcome Conner Michael

Conner has been such a lucky little man. We have been able to take him a bunch of places so far (luckily he does pretty well in the car). Our road trips have taken us all the way to Tahoe for a wedding, Santa Cruz to visit friends, San Leandro, Santa Rosa and of course, our family cabin in Hales Grove!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Family Blog! I am not really good at keeping up-to-date with our day to day life but I will try my best.

Since Conner came into our lives, mine and Sean's lives have changed dramatically (as I am sure any first time parents lives have)...better and worse (by worse, I mean, harder and more challenging).
I am, for now, a stay at home Mom and so far I love it. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I am beyond exhausted and don't know how I am going to make it through the whole day...but somehow I do! I like to think those little smiles Conner gives me, help :)
Caring for a child IS a full time job....a very rewarding full time job. I couldn't imagine having to go back to work after only a few short months with my little man. As Sean and I have both said...we didn't have a baby for someone else to raise him and watch all his great milestones being reached.
We have both had such a great time watching Conner grow. Everyday seems to bring us something new...whether it be Conner laughing, smiling, cooing, learning to sit up or roll over...everyday is a new excitement for us.
Being home with Conner has so many ups. I work with him all day and because of this, he seems to be reaching milestones at great speed.
The last couple of days we have been trying to transition Conner into his own bed....oh boy, let me tell you....NOT EASY! Conner is not getting the sleep he needs nor am I...so it was time!
It's so hard to listen to him cry...so I am starting out in baby steps...naps during the day first. So far, it's going well. He cry's for a short period of time and then falls asleep. The dreaded "cry it out" method is tough but I know in the long run it will be best for all 4 (Ryder needs his sleep too!) of us.
Wish us luck! :)