Conner's 5 Month Update and First Halloween!

5 months with our sweet Conner James!! Time is flying so fast! 

Sweet Conner James is 5 months old. He is ~15 pounds and his weight is in the 50th percentile and height in the 75th percentile. He eats every 3 hours during the day and can go 7 hours at night! He moved from the bassinet to the crib a few days before halloween my mama heart wasn't ready for that. He likes to fall asleep between 10pm-11:30pm and takes about 3 naps during the day. He loves bath time and still loves to read books, especially learning the letters in his name! He still LOVES walks and falls asleep in his stroller every time! He has taken interest in his little piano and now has a favorite toy, his little pyramid toy with strings with pom-poms hanging out to pull. He loves textures and tires to run his fingernails across everything. His hair is starting to come back and it's coming in blonde and the dark hair is still fading away slowly in the back. 

He can now hold onto things in his hands for like an hour. He is interested in phones and TV remotes. He wants to hold them and explore how they work by pushing their buttons. He can now sit up completely unassisted for 15+ minutes in his braces and out of his braces! He can now bear weight on his legs when you hold him and he loves to bounce in your lap. Outside of his braces, he can pull his knees up under him while on his stomach!

He loves to give open mouthed kisses when asked for a kiss. He is very happy and smiley and is getting even more used to his braces every week. He loves to wake up first thing in the morning and smile at me. The second he wakes up he is wide eyed and ready to play. He is very attached to me and has to see me at all times. We are so blessed to have him and I love being his mom!

 

Well we were having a great run at being undefeated and #1 but unfortunately as usual for us Vols that was very short lived and we are back to square 1. 

 

Conner had his very first playdate with is buddy Ridge!! We had an absolute blast together and I loved catching up with Keri! It's so fun being in the same phase of life together. Little Ridge is 6 weeks younger than Conner!

 

All smiles in the morning from sweet Conner!

Our favorite place in the world, the hammock!

Our sweet buddy loves to play the piano!

Sitting up like a champ! Don't worry, I was right there and didn't leave his side.

Conner can completely sit on his own as of exactly 4.5 months old and can do so with and without his braces. He can sit for like 30 minutes without falling over or anyone touching him! It is quite incredible!

Fall if my favorite time of year especially now with my babies!!!

 

My sweet Lucy!

 

November 2nd 2022 vs. November 2nd 2021. 4 month old Conner vs 8 week old Conner in my belly!

That rich red leaf color is just so gorgeous!!!

As a big family we went to the River corn maze in Benton TN! We absolutely loved it! This was our third time going and it was an absolute honor to bring Conner to his first corn maze experience! I have dreamed of days like this for forever!

 

Conner loved all of the farm animals so much!

 

Gorgeous gorgeous day!

Conner loves his grandma!

My sweet family.....and a cow LOL.

 

Cody was in his element and couldn't wait to show his son the moo moo's!

And now......HALLOWEEN!! Conner's first Halloween on the outside!! Last year I wore a orange shirt with a jackolantern over my stomach area and Conner was only 8 weeks old inside and now my little Jackolantern is on the outside! How perfect! Is he not just the cutest! Sweet as pie!

Lucy this year was a spider and a perfect spider she was!!! She is such a good sport haha!

 

Conner's second costume was Shaun White! Making lemonade out of lemons with that stupid bar and brace.

 

We of course had to take Conner trick or treating around our cul de sac! He loved holding the candy and seeing all of the people. He also helped us pass out candy on the front porch.

 

Nana swung by to visit as a scary witch!

Another Fall photoshoot! 

 

Lucy keeping watch!

 

Sweet Conner can pull his legs underneath him now during tummy time! One step closer to crawling!

When mom and Morgan visited again we all went to Imagination Station to walk Conner around the park!

My lovely family!!

We can't wait for 6 months, that is when I started to crawl and pull up on things and Conner has so far followed my milestones to a T so fingers crossed we can get this boots and bar off during the day soon! Also next month we look forward to solids so so much, he is beyond ready!

With so much love,

Kayla Raborn

Conner's 4 Month Update!

 Conner James is 4 months old!! He is 14 pounds 10oz and weighs a lot more with the braces. I'm growing some serious biceps  . Last week he sat up assisted for the first time in his little seat thing, (and slightly unassisted in my lap). Conner has started reaching for toys and items for the first time! He also rolled from his back to his side (almost all the way over) 3 times three weeks ago!! Conner has been drooling a lot and we noticed he is getting his first tooth! This month was big for his feet and he got out of his casts forever and moved to the braces which was so incredibly hard for him. Conner has been extra alert this month and doesn't like to play on his own much anymore. He is definitely attached to me more than anyone. He still loves breastfeeding and still likes to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and that's totally fine with me, I love our time together . He takes his 2 or 3 small daytime naps on me and slept through the night (7.5 hours straight) for the first time a week and a half ago and has been doing so ever since! His favorite time to go to sleep is still midnight though lol. Thank goodness we are night owls! Conner has such a sweetheart and loves people, especially his mom, dad, and sister Lucy.

Our newest family picture :). 

His favorite new activity is sitting up assisted!

Watching daddy break down film!

 

We love Tennessee weekends!!

My honey!

 

Conner's first football game!!

First time in his assisted seater.

Who says mothers and sons can't match!

 

Lucy and Conner are quite the duo now! Conner reaches for Lucy now and smiles at her and Lucy loves her brother!

One thing we are facing right now with the boots and bar brace is Conner uses items to pry the brace off constantly and it is a big problem. He uses your knees or all of his baby items to do so including his car seat which makes it extremely difficult to go anywhere because he painfully kicks the boots half way off and screams in pain. It's like how it was as a kid when your inline skate was on too tight and you pried it off with the other foot and it got stuck and your bones hurt so bad so you slam your foot back in the skate quickly and loosen it and try again, or quickly take it off with even more force to ease the pain. So for him it gets stuck in that in-between phase and he can't get it off and when we are in the car we can't reach him to help him. Also, Conner literally doesn't fit in his car seat with the boots and bar on so we have to drive with it off and he gets a solid hour a day out of it so anything extra just adds on top of that so you want to minimize travel to keep that time as close to an hour as possible if that makes sense. If you go 3 hours outside of the brace, movement in his clubbed feet start to happen. What will we do with holidays to see my family in Knoxville?

So Conner doesn't fit in or kicks off his brace in every single baby item we have for him, baby carriers, strollers, car seat, swings, bouncers, bassinet, and he won't be able to use a bouncer or walker so I try to focus on the positive because I become very very bitter. Also he still can't wear pants because diaper changes are impossible and he will never in his life be able to wear footed pajamas because he will wear his brace at night. 

We had our first yard sale a few weekends ago and the 4 of us crammed in a 2 seater soccer chair and it was awesome!

Conner's favorite thing in the world is reading books and I had no idea Lucy loved it just as much! They both love my story voice and the pages with pop ups. Conner smiles the whole time I read! And if I knew Lucy loved books too I would have read to her long ago! I love my family so much.

Another club foot appointment.

Our little guy trying to roll over!! So so proud of him!

Not sure what to think about his brace.

Plotting before getting his last set of casts ever off.

It sure is great to be a Tennessee vol!

With so much love,

Kayla and Conner!

4-10-22