Teeth

Connor has been teething for the last couple of weeks. So far he has been taking it like a champ. The only thing that we've noticed is that he gets a little more cranky when he's tired or hungry. He's got the two bottom teeth coming in. There was only one, but the second came a couple days later and caught up. He definitely has a great bite on him. He loves to chomp down on just about anything. Don't let your fingers get to close. He is definitely a mama's boy. No matter his mood, when mama shows up he melts to a smiling, giggling pudge!

Hope y'all are warmer than us! The high the yesterday was 11 with a -15 wind chill and still no snow days. Let it to the guy who gets 2 and a half months off every year to whine about a day off...

With Love.

Baby/Dog Gate

Dad & I installed the baby gate yesterday. Connor isn't quite moving around yet, but we like to use power tools. The best thing about the gate is that it doubles as a doggie gate as well. The plastic in the middle is a little smoky, so Chief hasn't tried to run through it yet. He does poke it with his nose when he's trying to come upstairs to see if it is unlocked or not. Here are some pictures.

5 month video

Here is a video of Connor meeting his cousin Greta for the first time. They were kind of oblivious to each other, until Greta let a hand get too close to Connor and he shoved it in his mouth. We are definitely in the stage where everything, and I mean everything, goes to the mouth. He tried to get Emma in his mouth the other day. He didn't get close, but he tried. Connor is making noises like a little mad man! He talks to us, his mobile, the toys on his carseat, and just about any one else who will listen. He is quick to smile and cuddle with whoever is holding him as long as he's not tired or hungry, just like mommy and daddy! He lites up our world. I had basketball try-outs this week, so I only saw him for a little bit in the morning every day. By the time I was getting home, he'd already be in bed. It was probably the worst week we'd had in a long time. Anyway, got my team picked and a video put together of Pudge. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLEcMvJLurg

With Love!

4 Month Video

Here is the video of Connor at 4 months. He becoming quite the handful. He isn't moving quickly, yet... He is cooing, laughing, squealing, yelling, grabbing anything around him and putting it in his mouth. Actually tried ot put Chief in his mouth the other day. He is still completely in love with watching football on TV. He doesn't watch basketball with the same attention yet, but that's because football has more players with normally two distinct colors, at least that's what I tell myself. Anyway, hope you enjoy the video. We tired to get him squealing for y'all. You can definitely see when he focuses on the TV and then sees his mommy. He is so serious and then just lights up!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sarah, Connor, & I are headed down to my Aunt Cindy & Uncle Mike's house for Thanksgiving. We are also going to Tablerock Lake, which we haven't been to in about 4 years or so. The Eagles come to the lake this time of year, so we are hoping to see some eagles! Talk to you all soon. Annie, can't wait to see Greta & y'all on iChat.

With Love.

4 Month Check Up

Connor had his 4 month check up today. He is weighing in at 16 pounds 11 ounces and he is now 25 inches long! He was in the 85 percentile for weight and the 50th for height. He got his second round of vaccinations today and was quite creaky from it. He really loved his momma today cause she made it all better! Hope all is well! With Love!

Is it starting to feel like these clips come in bunches? Anyway, here's the third and final one this week, unless he does something else that cracks me up and I can get it on camera. Connor has really started cooing and laughing a lot. When he's in a good mood, which is most of the time as long as he's not hungry or tired, he really smiles quick. He is starting to make himself laugh too. He really is a lot of fun! Anyway, here's a short video of him playing in the tub and in his jumpy chair. He really was getting tired towards the end of the jumpy chair, which explains some of his expressions. Anyway, enjoy!

With Love!

Rice Cereal

Connor had his first rice cereal a couple days ago. Here's the video, it's pretty long, ~7 minutes. You have to click the link to youtube again. Sorry, guys, but he's too cute to keep the video clips short. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWAthSPhk44

With Love!

Bath Time

Connor loves his bathes! He really does love to swim around in the tub. When we hold him in the deeper water, when he rests he looks up & smiles real big at us. He spends at least 15 minutes during bath time just swimming! He has definitely got a determined look while he is swimming. We're not sure where he's headed, but he is definitely focused on getting there. He doesn't get easily frustrated in the tub, but when it comes to food, when he says now, he means it! Enjoy!

Hope all is well. With Love!

Playing with Family & Friends

Connor has spent quite a bit of time lately playing with friends and family. I got it all put together, the only problem is that it is too big to load to the blog. Thank God for YouTube! Hope you enjoy! He really is quite the ladies man so far, flirting with Aunt Abbie, Kelly, & Aunt May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD2JVKSp6Xw

Talk to y'all real soon. Roll Tide for the Alabamans! The Rays are winning it all!!!

With Love.

Florida Swimming

Here's a short video of Connor swimming. He really enjoys the swimming. We let him play in the tub here at home and he loved the pool in Sarasota. Enjoy.

Hope all is well.

With Love

Connor & Sarah's Flordia Trip

Connor and Sarah went to Florida a couple of weeks ago. Things have been a little crazy and I'm just now getting the videos onto the blog. Connor met his cousin, Adrianna, for the first time. Adrianna is 10 months and Connor is now 3 months. Watch the video, when Adrianna laughs or squeals, Connor jumps. It was definitely a new experience for him to have another baby around. He also really wants that toy. He scoots around in his crib when he's asleep, but not yet awake. Enjoy! There will definitely be more videos soon.

How about those Tampa Bay Rays? Don't enjoy it too much, Nick!

Hope all is well. With Love.

10 weeks

So obviously things have be picking up a bit lately since we haven't posted anything. Connor went to his 8 week check-up a couple of weeks ago. He handled his shots like a trooper. The doctor said that he was off the growth chart for weight and really high up of the chart for height. I could have told him both of those after looking at him sleeping in his crib the other night. He was all stretched out and took up a lot more of the crib than I expected. He has really been getting more active. If we lay him on his stomach now he will hold his head up and then do a kind of half push-up and get his chest up too. The doc said he wasn't supposed to do that till 4 months.

We had some professional pictures taken of him in the last couple of days. I'll post them as soon as I can get my hands on them, which isn't supposed to be until the end of the month. I did get some video of him moving his head around. He has fallen absolutely in love with his mobile. He seems to follow the monkey around. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Hope all is well.

With Love.

Labor Day

On Labor Day we went over to Daddo & Grammy's house for lunch. GG Tracy came up to help celebrate Daddo & Grammy's 29th wedding anniversary. I got a little bit of video and we took some pictures. If Connor's in one of his "play" moods, lightly tap his nose and say, "I got your nose" and it usually returns a big smile. I got it a couple times in the video. I even got video of Emma hiding under Connor's bed. I guess it's den-like, so she loves it when we are all in there. Jon & Chad, the music is dedicated to you two, mainly listening to Jon sing in the car in Austin. Anyway, enjoy!

Hope all is well. Talk to you soon.

With Love.

Gameday

The guys in the fanily were both really excited for the first weekend of college football. Sarah was not looking forward to it, since it meant she had to work, but Connor & I got some good "guy time" in this weekend. While the K-State game wasn't on TV, we watched Utah beat Mighigan & then Missouri score more than Illinois. No Florida games for us this weekend, but we still had a good time.

Some of you might recognize the music from the video as that of the KSU pre-game intro's.

Hope all is well. Stay dry down south! Watch out for those hurricanes!

With Love.

Thunderstorms Last night

Last night Sarah, Connor, & I went to the store to do some food shopping. Just as we were checking out at the register it started to sprinkle some really big drops. I was holding Connor and a bunch of the drops were hitting him as we hustled to the car. As I was putting him into the car seat, he was getting pretty upset. Imagine getting woken up from a nice warm nap by a sprinkler, while being jostled by your jogging father.... Anyway, Sarah & I shoved all the groceries in the car and headed home. Turns out there was a Severe T-storm headed our way. It didn't reach its full potential until we got home, but the drive home was windy, with lightning, and a lot of rain. Connor loved it! That's right, the crying, upset baby from the car seat, loved the whole drive home. He spent the whole time laughing, cooing, & giggling. We were really lucky to get home when we did! Connor seemed to like the storm, even when the lightning was striking fairly close with the really loud thunder that followed. Anyway. Talk to you all soon.

With Love.

6 Weeks, 15 lbs.

So we are growing pretty well. Connor is now 6 weeks old and weighs in at a whopping 15 lbs. I work with a lady whose little girl is 7 months old and her baby weighs 15 lbs too. He isn't a complete chunk, but he does like to eat. Sarah got some really great video of him. Around 9 or 10 am he gets really awake and has a blast playing with just about anything. He laughs, coo's, sneezes, hiccups, etc. Anyway, here it is.



P.S. That's my Transformers pillow, not Connor's! He tried to snag it, but I wasn't having it!

I posted on YouTube as well if any one wants the full screen version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZXj1f9dO_0




Emma has found a new home lately. She tends to go here whenever we are in the nursery with Connor.


Hope all is well with everyone! School is going just fine! Open House is next Tuesday and I can't wait. It's amazing how much meeting the kids' parents explains a lot about the kid!

Much Love!

Swing Time

Okay, so I got some video of Connor is his swing staring at the warning label. He actually got so bored with it that he fell asleep for the first time in his swing.



We weighed him with the scale the other day and he's up to about 13.5 lbs. He loves to eat! He has been spending quite a bit of time up during the day and sleeping from around 9 0r 10pm to 5 in the morning, which has helped us out quite a bit. Hope all is well. With Love!

The swing

I didn't get a picture of it, but last night we put Connor in his big swing chair. It was the first time that he had spent more than the thirty seconds it has taken him to cry in it, in the past. The best part was as he was laying there swinging, listening to the sounds of the ocean, the only thing that held his attention was the black & white warning label on the side of one of the supports. It was kind of funny to see him ignore everything else: the colorful owl mobile, his mom cooing at him, the dogs. He was completely transfixed by a warning label that I spent 20 seconds to read and then forget.

He has been much more animated the last couple of days in the evenings. He's started to kind of giggle, coo, and smile some more at Sarah & I. It's really funny. I promise I'll try to get it recorded. Hope all is well. Talk to you soon. With Love!

Connor's Bouncy Chair

Connor has been spending some time in his Bouncy Chair. Enjoy!

School starts this Thursday. I get my own room this year and it has been fantastic. Hope all is well. With Love!

4 Weeks

I put together some random video clips & pics from the last week or so. Hope you enjoy them! My cousin, Annie, had her little girl yesterday! Another eight pound baby in the family! Congratulations, Annie & Terry!!! Thank you for the prayers!

P.S. I put it on YouTube too, if you want to watch it full screen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XExlLM6ggDI

With Love!

We're back to being a household of three plus the dogs. We wanted to thank Karen & Dennis for everything that they helped out with while they were here. The house looks great and the meals were fantastic! Thank you so much.

Connor was taking a bath the other day and deciding to enter into the Mother Teresa look-a-like contest hosted here in town. I don't know if we'll win, but I think we have a fighting chance... Just kidding... He just looked so cute wrapped up like a little soft taco. I'm probably headed to Purgatory for that joke... Oh, well...

My cousin, Annie, is due to have her second child, Greta, any day now, so please keep them in your prayers! We can't wait to meet her, Annie!!!

With Love!

Christening

Connor Deane was christened on July 27, 2008. Thank you so much for everyone who came and also sent their blessings! We really appreciate all of it! Connor slept through most of the ceremony and then proceeded to play musical baby afterward at lunch. Thank you so much to Carmen, Karen, Meghan, Sarah, & Chick for everything you all did to make lunch so awesome! It was really great!

Camille and Mike Bradshaw came into town to be Connor's godparents. We hope that they will be involved in Connor's life to help us & him to mature into what it means to be a man. Thanks, guys.



Our priest is a really funny guy! Just click the video and listen to his "say cheese!" Hint: He doesn't say cheese & it's at the beginning of the video...


The boy has been growing. He has changed daily since we brought him home. Every now and then, when he's laying on us, he'll hold himself up and kind of look around. It's pretty cool. We aren't due back to the doctor to check on him until two months. He is pretty amazing and staying awake more and more during the day. He is really only waking up twice during the night. I've been taking care of the first diaper change and then Sarah's been getting the second one. He is definitely a Mama's Boy right now. He loves his Mama, then again she is the food source!

I go back to school on the 7th of August (P.S. Happy B-day Michael Vogt 8/8/08!). I get my own room this year and I will also be teaching 7th grade! It definitely seems like the summer has shot by without us even realizing it! I guess this is what everyone with kids has been telling me that is goes by so fast... Hope it's the same way when we get to Oct. & Nov. of the school year cause those two months take forever.

Hope all is well! Talk to you real soon! With Love!

No more Cord & Movie Night!

We went back to visit the doctor yesterday! Connor now weighs 9lbs. 9oz., which is a little more than an ounce a day (average). He is doing really well and not showing any more signs of jaundice. He has also grown a quarter of an inch, so he's at 21.25 inches now.

The cord was almost off yesterday when we went in and the doc just pulled it right off. Neither Sarah nor I wanted to pull it off, before it fell off, just in case... Doc didn't even hesitate, saw it dangling by a thread, & gone. We learned, so that next time, we aren't waiting. It does look like he will have a cute little outie! It also means no more sponge baths, and next time we are in our baby tub (pics to follow).

Everything is going well! He has been sleeping a little more at night, extending his 2.5 to 3 hour naps to more like 3.5 to almost 4 at times. I think that I was more rested with the shorter naps, if that makes any sense at all, or maybe the short sleeps are starting to catch up with me... I haven't done much the last two days, but have been really tired...

Anyway, all is well here. We went and saw Mama Mia on Saturday. The moive by itself was pretty funny, but Connor basically slept through the entire show, including Peirce Brosnon's terrible singing... Connor was really content with his nap!

It's been crazy hot the last couple of days, 105 degrees according to all the bank signs. Karen thinks it isn't that bad, since it isn't as humid as FL, but Sarah & I are roasting!!! Anyway, talk to you all real soon. See most of you this weekend! We can't wait for everyone to get here and meet the boy!!!

Both GG's (Great Grandma's) & my Uncle Ricky's family have been by to see the boy. It was hard in the hospital since we were in the NICU and the staff isn't really open to a lot of visitors. It was great to have them out to the house! If you would like to stop by, just give us a call. We are always open to short visits!!!

With Love!

Connor = Movie Star

I made a short video of the pictures that Karen & my parents have taken so far of Connor. Hope you all enjoy it! Just click the link!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHYxmwGgNUg


He is an amazing little guy, that seems to come up with something new every day. He spit up all over me this morning. Not one of his finer moments, but it made me laugh. Luckily, I hadn't gotten ready for the day yet, and was still in my pj's. The smell of breast milk regurgitated is very unique! I couldn't get it out of my nose for half the day! Anyway, things are great here. Connor seems to get bigger daily and Sarah & I are still learning our new schedule. Basically, his schedule now. Talk to you all soon. With Love!

First Doctor Visit

Today Connor had his first doctor appointment. It was nice to be home for the 15 hours or so, before we were off to the doctor again. His doctor said that the kid looks great! They weighed him today, born at 8 lbs. 8 oz., and weighed in today at 9 lbs. 1 oz. The doc said that most babies lose weight and then take 10 to 14 days to get back up to their birth weight. Our kid took six days to gain a half pound over birth weight, definitely related to Dennis & Michael (Hollow Legs for both of them).

Click on the picture and you can read the scale!!! :)

Doc said that the best thing for him was to keep eating & sleeping. He wasn't worried at all about the jaundice & low blood sugar that kept us in the NICU for five days... That's what I want in a NICU doc though, attention to detail! Overall, Connor is in great shape!

Tonight we used some of the breast milk that Sarah has been supplying in a bottle. I tried one time in the Hospital to feed him from a bottle with her breast milk, but he hated that nipple. Tonight was no problem at all! He took down 5 fl. oz. fairly quickly and burped before I could get him to my shoulder. He fought the bottle at first, until he tasted the milk, and then was all over it, literally. He wrapped his arms around the bottle, like it might try to go somewhere.

Everything is continuing to go well here. Camille, Sarah's sister, was up over the weekend to see Connor and gave us a surprise bathroom redecorating for the boy. It is all lions, tigers, & bears, OH MY!!! Thank you, Camille.

Hope all is well with everyone! With Love!

Finally Home

It has been a long couple of days, but we are finally home with Connor. Here are the pictures that I'm sure you are all anticipating!

18 Hours of Labor

















Pretty happy kid!






SUPER CONNOR!





More to come, when I can get some sleep... :) With Love!

He's here, he's here!!!

Connor Deane Tracy arrived at 1:03am on Thursday the 10th of July. He weighed in at 8lbs. 8oz and was 21 inches long. I don't have any of the cameras with me, since I've just run home to take the dogs out for a walk, but I promise to have pictures and videos up here as soon as I can. Connor & mom are both resting and doing great! He has started feeding and is very much a go getter. The nurse put some covers on his knees and thighs, since he has been moving his legs so much when on his belly. He was giving himself rug burn. He is happy or at least as happy as a two day old can be. He has blue eyes so far and light brown hair. He is amazing and I can't thank my beautiful wife, Sarah, enough! She was amazing throughout her 18 hour labor! Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers. He's here and now I'm headed back to the hospital to hang out with him some more. I promise to write again soon! With Love!

Adrianna

Karen brought her camera with her to KS and I unloaded it on to my PC to make some discs of pictures. I figured I'd try out my movie making skills again. The video is of my niece, Adrianna. I think she is quite the little cutie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5y3lYWLpCI

Karen has been helping us walk the dogs. She has normally just been walking Emma, while I've had Chief, but tonight we tried them both with her. She wasn't looking forward to it, but Karen said it wasn't that big of a deal at all. Neither dog pulled and both stayed right with her. She only had to hold on to Chief, since Emma is hands-free.

Talk to y'all real soon. Connor is going to be here very, very soon.

With Love.

Emma's New Collar

Well, it's actually a harness and it is completely amazing!!! For those of you with bigger dogs that pull or are just unhappy with the head collars, then we have a collar for you. It is still made by the "Gentle Leader" people and it worked as soon as we put it on her.

As you can see, the harness goes down over her head and connects under her belly. The leash connects in front and every time she went to pull, was tugged back in place by the leash. We got a leash that goes around our waists, so it is completely hands free (since our hands are about to be full of baby!). Emma hated her head collar. She would scratch at it and paw at it and just rub her head all over the ground. We didn't have any of those problems this time at all. This might sound weird, but this is a releif to us, since now we don't have to worry about walking her with the carriage anymore. Emma is completely hands free on walks now!

Anyway, all is well here. We had our last doctors appointment today, at least until Connor decides it's time. The doc said everything was looking great and that we could expect him any day or so. I think she threw in the "or so" just to cover her baskside. Sarah is warm, since the temps around here have been pushing the 90's with the ever present Midwest humidity. Hope to talk to you all real soon. Keep those phones close! Make sure you shoot me an e-mail (chrisdtracy@yahoo.com) if your numbers have changed recently, so I call the right number! With Love!

Landscaping Glory

Last week I spent an afternoon finishing the landscaping in the front yard. Last year I built a rock wall around the corner of the house to kind of enclose the landscaping and it has taken me until this year to finally put in a couple of bushes and mulch it. We also put in a little redbud at the end of the bed, that was real pretty this spring!

I also got a Hostea that blooms a pale lavender for the front porch, since it gets very little sun in the morning and a couple of white Clematis vines for the trellis. Mom had some of her landscaping redone, so she gave us some Coral Bells for next to the entry way.

Hopefully more than just the coneflowers will be blooming towards the end of July.

Framing Complete

Dad & I finished the first phase of framing for the basement yesterday. The only thing not included in the first phase is the bathroom. It's just too expensive to put in a bathroom down there, mainly because I don't have a clue when it comes to plumbing! Anyway, I included pictures of the complete hallway, bedroom, & bedroom's closet. You can see the pegboard through the back of the closet. That is my shop area that will eventually be framed in by the bathroom, but for now I have a HUGE shop.

Hallway (bath & shop on left, cedar closet & bed on right).

Bedroom Door (Cedar Closet on left, Bed. closet on right).

Closet

Obviously I had some help while taking the pictures. The dogs have adjusted very well to having their cages moved to the basement. We are still reprogramming our command to go "Night, Night." They are a little indecisive about which way to go, until they see us head to the basement.

While Dad & I were working in the basement, Sarah & Mom were finishing things upstairs. Here are some pictures of Connor's room:

The dinosaur picture came from my room when I was a little guy. I think we got while we were living on the East Coast at a museum in NY. Sarah & I like it, but my mom complains that it's not at her eye level... It's at mine!!! HAHAHAHA! Love you all. Hope to see you & Connor soon!

Bobblehead

Okay, so I was looking at the Royals website the other day and I found this. It lets you load a picture and then turns it into a bobblehead. Sorry, Den, couldn't pass this up! Click the link for some actual bobblehead action. Be sure to click play on the music. It's Take me out to the Ballgame hip hop style, since that's what Den would have picked. If you click on download bobblehead, it will give you a picture that you can save to your computer. I attached a picture of it at the bottom if the link doesn't work!

http://mlb.xm.varitalk.com/bobble/index.php?i=dT0xMiZnPWYmaT1ib2JibGVfRDlDNDFDOUFGMjQ4QUREMjc2MzZENDU2MzcyNUE0OTYuanBnJml4PS0xMzAmaXk9ODcmaXI9MCZpcz0yMjkuMjIwNTIxMDA0ODA2Jml0PTEyLjg5MDYyNSZhPTYmdz1tZiZrPUQ5QzQxQzlBRjI0OEFERDI3NjM2RDQ1NjM3MjVBNDk2

38 weeks

We are getting down to the wire here people. Connor isn't due for another two weeks, but the doctors have said that he is healthy enough & big enough that he can come at any time now. Talk about living in a constant state of "Oh my gosh!!!" Every time Sarah bends over from Connor kicks at her femoral nerves, I keep thinking, "Contractions!!!!" But nope, just him kicking and making her uncomfortable. The last sonogram we had put him at about seven and a half pounds with two and a half weeks left. If we go full term, we're are looking at an almost nine pounder!!! If you've watched the funscan video, you can see his rolls and that was at like 32 weeks, so I'm sure he's chunkier! Everything is ready here at the house. The basement is coming along. The nursery is ready. We have a bassinet in our room for early on and his room is ready to go when it's time. He has so many outfits. We know he's supposed to wear four or five a day, but we keep looking at all these clothes and wondering how he's going to wear them all!

I planted some more cone flowers in the front. I planted the seeds, so they aren't up yet, but these are the flowers from last year that came with our landscaping. Grandma Dunivan described them as "impossible to kill", but I read that as maintenance free! They really have gotten much bigger than last year. Hopefully all of them will be blooming in July. I also planted some Coreopsis, which look a lot like daisies, that are yellow, but they're not up yet either. Both species are native to the area, so it shouldn't take much to keep them alive. That is my view of landscaping anyway, Keep it simple, stupid (KISS). Anyway, talk to you all soon. Can't wait to see everyone! Much Love!

Basement Update

Dad & I have continued to work on the basement. Dennis, the first entertainment room will probably be ready for you in July for the christening. Not sure how much more we will be able to get done by then. Stupid price of a stud quality 2x4x8 has gone from $1.97 to $2.34 in the last six weeks or so. That adds up! I actually did some price comparison this last time I bought wood and saved $10 bucks by going to Lowes instead of HomeDepot. We have framed in the Cedar Closet, which Dad is really jealous of the storage space. The storage closet against the stairs just needs some doors & drywall and it's ready to go. We also got our last three blinds, so now no one can see into our house, since more people are in the neighborhood now. Anyway, here are the new pics of the basement and the blinds. I moved the Chinese fan from the upstairs guest room to the basement... There is a lot more room in the guest room now!

Cedar Closet

Storage Closet

Basement Window

New binds: They come down from the top & up from the bottom, so the dogs & us can both see out.