Okay, a day late, but I'm here. Connor's taking a nap, so let's do it!
I don't believe anything big happened in June or July...or August for that matter. I really can't remember. September, however, was our big Colorado trip. We went there mainly for Lisa's wedding in Keystone, as Connor was the ringbearer, but we decided to stay there longer than we needed and make a vacation out of it. Overall it went great. I hate traveling by plane, with or without luggage or Connor, but it went fine. Connor did great on the plane. On the way there, we didn't even have to get the tablet out. We had some new toys and stuff and that kept him busy. On the way back, though, we did use it for a while.
While there, we visited Ellen and Matt for a couple of days and stayed at there house near Denver. It was fun there and Connor really liked their dogs and things to play with/things to watch. He liked the turtle as well. The one thing that sucked was that when we arrived at DIA, one of our luggage wasn't there. The smaller suitcase of the two, although, we didn't have all of our stuff in one suitcase thanks to Laura's packing. It was still annoying. At any rate, the people at DIA were pretty helpful and they scheduled to drive it out ot Ellen's house once they found it, which was nice. They did find it within a few hours and they had it driven to the house around 6pm or so. I'm not sure where exactly it was, but I think it was just forgotten at OKC or something.
The two days went by real quick and we headed up to Keystone with my Mom, since she helped us out by watching Connor one night. It was cold there, but the weather was great. Connor did well in the ceremony, sucking on a dum-dum, but failed to take a photo with Lisa. I understand, though. There were so many people there that he didn't know and he was really getting his attention. He played a lot with Veronica and even got a kiss, too!
After Keystone for a couple of days, we went to Chris and Alicia's house for a couple of days to visit them as well as Reiko and my Mom. That was okay, as well. By this time, though, Connor was getting tired, I think. Tired of the different environment, naps weren't that great, too many new people, etc. Laura took Connor to Boulder one day with my Mom and Reiko. Apparently he loved Reiko and played with her a bunch. Chris and I went to the driving range one day and that's about it. We saw Ellen one last time for lunch the day before we left. We ate at Cinzzettis which wasn't that great this time. Oh well. I think the novelty is wearing off.
The flight home, as I said, was fine. We got in at like 6:30 or something, though, so we were racing to get home and get Connor down. He never really got used to the time change, which sucks because daylight saving time is this weekend. It was really just nice to be home, though. There's nothing like being back home with all the amenities that you're used to.
That was basically the highlight for September. Most of October wasn't that interesting. It's mostly been dealing with Connor and his growing up. He's learning so many new words per week, it's kind of fun to teach him words. We've started the transition to 1 nap per day and that's going, okay, I suppose. It could be worse and it could be better. The thing is we have no choice since if we try a 2-nap day, he usually doesn't take the second nap, which means he's up from 10:30 in the morning until bedtime and that sucks because by 4pm or so, he's starting to lose it. So, anyway, right now I'm putting him down between 12:00 and 12:30 and letting him go as long as he would sleep, but he's usually up by 2:30 or 3:00.
We're also working on his temper tantrums and frustration management, as well. Trying to at least. When he gets mad he hits his head on the walls and floors and, lately, he's been making these super high pitched screams that hurts our ears. Hopefully, this will pass soon.
Really, though, most days aren't too bad. He's just been tired-ish each day, so it's a delicate balance of playing and trying to relax, although he just runs around all day and ends up tired anyway. We still need to figure out Gymboree and/or Mother's Day Out stuff...maybe for the Spring.
The other big news over the last year is the fantasy book that I've been writing. As you know, I've had a rough outline for months and months now, but really only started writing in the Spring, I think. I'll have to check my revision dates. Anyway, I finally finished it last week, err, maybe 2 weeks ago. Then, I went through the story a couple of times, editing, revising, and adding stuff. I finished with that last week, printed that out this past weekend and gave it to Laura. She just finished it last night and she tells me that she liked it. Hopefully, she is telling me the truth. I definitely think that it could have been better, though, but I was both wanting to finish it and losing motivation to write it. Maybe I will keep it shelved for a while and come back to add to it, and maybe publish it later or something. I need to write out all the suggestions she had on paper and go back to it once I have a clear mind again. I do have some of the sequel in my head, though.
Looking back, I did enjoy it, I suppose. I learned that writing is pretty hard and the hardest part was getting what was in my mind onto paper in a way that I liked it and making sure that the reader would be reading it the way I had the story in my head, which, I guess is the core of book writing.
I can't believe it's already the end of October. The holiday season is just around the corner. I already got a gift for Laura. One of it, anyway. Before we know it, it's going to be Connor's 2-year birthday...crazy! Laura and I both have a dentist's appointment in a couple of weeks. I'm going to get my crown re-done in the back, which has been a long time coming, but wasn't anything that was urgent to do. I just hope that I didn't get any cavities since a year ago.
Connor is starting to cry, as he usually does, about mid-way into his 1 nap. He hasn't gotten much today, which will suck later. It's a fine line on how long to let him go and when to get him. Sigh.
I will try to be back soon.
I think maybe, just maybe, I'll try a blog-everyday project in 2014....we'll see...
