Nicknames we've given to Connor

Sweetheart
Sweetie
Pumpkin
Boy
The Boy
Buddy
Guy
Fruitcake
Munchkin
Monkey
Buckaroo
Stinker
(Any of the above preceded by "Little" )
Monkeyboy
Buddy Boy
Rug Rat
Snickers (he used to laugh softly in his sleep)
Trotter (you should see him crawl!)

I just hope he remembers that his name is Connor...

Reflections on 2008

Once again, in no particular order:

- It's possible to own a house for a year and still not be moved in

- Charlotte is roughly the same latitude as Santa Barbara

- I don't miss San Diego half as much as I thought I would

- Landscaping is expensive... Hardscaping more so... Day Care, don't ask...

- "Recession" is a four-letter-word

- Your child's smile erases the day's hardships in a nanosecond

- Pugs will pretty much eat anything

- Amazingly, fried pickles are really good (though I understand it depends greatly on where you order them)

- Facebook is both the coolest and most annoying thing on the internet

- Once again, I need to lose weight

- My life is rich with memories, but I'm also buried in crap

- I blog, therefore I wonder who reads

- It is possible to know too much about UPC standards

- 80s arcade games are hard to find

- I think there were 2 weeks this year when Connor wasn't sick with something or other

- A grown man in a full pirate costume will get more stares at the neighborhood Halloween Party than the guy in the Spongebob costume (I was the pirate)

- A grown man in a full pirate costume will be largely ignored during Pirate Weekend at the local Renaissance Festival (I was not the pirate)

- All the crazy drivers come out during the holidays

- I can't believe it's already been another year...

Pics from Connor's first year

It's mind boggling to think it's already been one year! Well, mind boggling to us, Connor seems a little unimpressed by the fact that he's a year old.

A few of our little guy's current accomplishments:

• He now has 8 teeth: 4 top front and 4 bottom front
  
• He's crawling lightning fast
  
• He is standing for short periods of time (8 seconds is the record)
  
• He loves to dance and...
  
• He can't get enough of his stuffed ravioli dinners.
  

We can only imagine what this next year has in store for us! Enjoy the next set!

Connor's 12th Month and A Look Back At Year One

Previous installments (just in case you missed any):

11 Months

10 Months

9 months

8 months

7 months

6 months

5 months

4 months

Beginning of 4th month

3 months

Connor turns 1

My son turns one today and in a few hours we'll be celebrating with some local friends and family. Pictures as soon as we can get them online.

The Bathroom Door

The more I hear about MRSA, the more of a germaphobe I become. Unfortunately, this has led me down some paths of truly bizarre logic.

Take, for instance, the the door to the men's room at my office.

Like most men's rooms, you push the door to open it. And like most there's a metal plate where you're supposed to do the pushing.

For as long as I can remember, I've always avoided the "men's room door plate" like the plague, envisioning all the other people who've touched that plate and figuring that I was literally avoiding the plague by avoiding the plate. I've picked some spot above or below or to the side of that plate to push on instead.

Until today.

Today I had an epiphany as I was approaching the men's room: That door is filthy. The plate is shiny with nary a finger smudge on it. Everyone else is ALSO avoiding the plate which, when you think about it, is THE ONLY PLACE ON THE DOOR THAT ACTUALLY GETS CLEANED REGULARLY BY THE HOUSEKEEPING STAFF.

Ew.

So now I just go outside and pee in the bushes.

Connor's Fat Lip

On the way home from work today, as we're pulling into the daycare parking lot, my wife says to me "Oh, by the way, Connor got a fat lip at daycare today."

Turns out it wasn't as bad as I'd envisioned it. I've been gifted with a fat lip once in my life as a result of a Karate punch that wasn't pulled as well as it should have been by the guy I was practicing with in class and it wasn't pretty. I was really not looking forward to seeing any infant with a fat lip, let alone my son. However when we arrived at his room, he was sitting in a teacher's arms, looking a little unhappy and only a little swollen with a tooth-width scab on his upper lip.

Apparently the little guy was exercising his will in class and when he was moved from a place on the floor that he apparently wanted very much to return to, he scrambled off faster than his little arms and legs could take him and face-planted into the linoleum, biting his lip in the process.

Fortuitous - and I guess you could say somewhat serendipitous - that I picked out a red shirt when I dressed him this morning. Though as a Star Trek fan I should have known better...

So now we're home and he's doing well. I figure the scab will be gone in a few days since babies heal quickly. I just hope he heals better than I did... I can still feel where my lip met my tooth over 8 years ago.

Renaissance Babies

Today, we took Connor to the Charlotte Renaissance Festival. It's 20 acres of shops, food and characters with 6 stages offering constant entertainment. It's only the second Ren Fest I've ever been to. The first was in Laguna many years ago and we didn't stay there long, so I really can't say how they compare against one another.

Along for the ride were our friends Mary and Eric and their daughter Lila who was born 3 months ago. My sister's family was also there. The original idea was for us to all meet up and hang out together, but Francine got there before us (we were late) and between juggling babies, lunch and too much noise to hear your cellphone most of the time, we only bumped into Francine, Rob and Sam a few times.

Everyone had a lot of fun. We started the day by feasting on turkey legs and "Steak on a stake" for lunch. Eric and I shot crossbows and tried our hand at the thing where you use a huge mallet to try to knock a slider up a rail to ring the bell... whatever that's called... the only sign on the thing was "Play at your own risk". Misha and Mary took Connor though a maze and found a "gold" coin which was really plastic and a gimmick to get kids to run through the maze since you got to keep all the coins you could find. Connor wasn't too thrilled with the slide you had to go down to reach the exit though. Then, there was the Fudge vendor (yum) and the mead from ye olde pub (yum) and we wrapped the day with the Petting Zoo (stinky and oddly overrun with spiders). We all returned to the car tired and ready to go home.

I think I still smell a bit like dirt and Turkey Leg.

Some pics from the day:

Connor and Lila arriving at the Festival


Eric and Lila. She got lots of compliments about the cute hat.


Misha and Connor. I was taking this sideways and couldn't see the LCD so the composition's off, but I still like the shot.


Connor and Sam ... um... hanging out... (sorry, had to)


The petting zoo was a hit until we got swarmed through the fence by sheep.


"Oyez! Oyez! King Connor and Queen Lila decree that the day is over!"