Sweetberry Farm '09

I have fond memories of picking strawberries with my mom and neighbor when I was young. I hope Conrad will have the same memories about all of us at Sweetberry Farm.

Today was a great day to get out there. Overcast and recent ran to make the strawberries ready for picking. No one was into picking strawberries except for me. Conrad really enjoyed the baby goats and baby donkeys at the petting zoo. He was also able to pet the two big horses with our assistance. He also LOVED the mud from recent rain. He and Dad ate lunch on a hay bale while I paid for our pickings and purchased some yummy homemade strawberry ice cream.

The farm will have blackberries ready to pick sometime in May. Maybe I can convince both of them to head out there one more time? It will probably depend on the heat.

P.S. These pics also show of his new do. I love how his new haircut shows of his round little head!

First haircut

Conrad finally had his first haircut (sniff... and yes, I had her cut a few curls to save). He had a meltdown a few minutes before it was his turn. This ended up being a good thing as he was AWESOME during his haircut. He was content to sit in the fun yellow car, hold Thomas the trains (one for each hand) and watch Thomas on TV. What more could a kid want?!??!

Now that we have the after, his haircut was LONG overdue. I had initially agreed to get his haircut at 18 months. But when I was able to pull most of his hair into a ponytail, my rational side won out and an appointment was made.

He looks so much more grown up- even if he is still attached to his pacifier. We bought some cookie dough jelly (fancy schmancy, over-priced kid gel minus alcohol which really does smell like cookie dough) so we can attempt a faux hawk at home.

Mr. Clean

Conrad is starting his college fund early by hiring out his awesome Swiffer skills. He gets easily distracted and eventually pulls of the Swiffer cloth... but the cuteness is PRICELESS!

Welcome Van

We are so pleased to announce the arrival of Conrad's very first cousin, Van Seuss Olson. He made us wait a whopping 48 hours! Conrgratulations to his awesome mommy, Aimee, for all of her hard work and his proud daddy, Atticus!

We look forward to meeting him this summer. Meanwhile, I really need to start practicing "gentle" touches with Conrad.

Teeth update

Gray teeth are fully in, green are being cut now

Conrad has been busy cutting teeth. All of his first molars are in and he is busy working on all four canines at once. At least he gets all of them over with at the same time. Unfortunately, I still have no seen any signs of his left side lateral incisors (both top and bottom). Nobody (pediatrician or my dentist) except me seems very concerned about it.

I would like his smile to even out some time. They did appease me saying I could take him in for x-rays to see if the teeth are there. For now, I'm just going to wait. Maybe after the canines are in, they will show up.

Easter activities

Here are a few pics of our Easter activities. Conrad went to last year's subdivision Easter Egg Hunt but didn't really partake in the festivities. This year, he was all over the egg hunt... except he just wanted one egg which Dad then put in his basket so Conrad would pick up another. He caught on towards the end. Conrad also enjoyed the moon jump. Rather, he enjoyed sitting in there watching all the other kids jump.

Yesterday, we went to the San Antonio zoo with grandparents. We got there just before the park opened so it wasn't very crowded. Conrad was not about sitting in the stroller but wanted to RUN (shocking, I know)! His stroller was pretty much the pack mule for all his junk.

Conrad's favorite: probably the Tiny Tot beach area after he pretty much covered himself in sand.
My favorite: Lory's Landing and feeding the birds nectar and them landing all over me.
Barry's favorite: when Conrad got scared by the fish coming too close to him on the other side of the glass

We didn't get a chance to ride the train. It started sprinkling just before leaving the zoo so we skipped that and Conrad was barely awake. He fell asleep before the car left the parking lot which allowed us some adult time to grab lunch with a sleeping baby. He slept through lunch at Good Time Charlies (all I can say is YUMM-O) and all the way to Austin. He was TIRED!!!

Conrad is definitely spoiled and made out like a bandite with TWO Easter baskets thanks to his Auntie Z! His favorite part of both baskets: the Easter grass. Why do I think next year, he will be all about CANDY!

Potty party!

Potty from IKEA for only $3.99

I can't be more excited about Conrad using his potty to go Numero Dos last night. No, we are not even attempting to potty train. We are encouraging him to use the potty instead of the tubby to do his business. Thus far, our attempts have been futile. We are usually not quick enough. Last night, Conrad initiated it himself. He attempted to climb out of the tub.

Wouldn't ya know, his 2 (yes, 2!!!) potties were no where in sight. We tracked one down in the living room, the other is still MIA. He sat right down and I handed him a toy to play with and he did his business. I was so excited (more excited at the thought of not having to clean a tub and all his dang tub toys). We wiped and then he squatted and did more business on the floor (1 step forward, 2 steps back people!). He went back on the potty and finished it up.

I'm hoping this trend will continue on a semi-regular basis. I'm just happy he is familiar with the urge to go and held it until we tracked down a potty. I'm going on the hunt for the other potty when I get home. I mean really, where could he have put it? No telling!

Double trouble

Conrad has a double ear infection. I've lost count how many ear infections he's had. If I had to guess, I think it would be about five. He's had three since New Year's. This time around it was hard to detect because he did not run a fever whatsoever.

Barry took him to the doctor this afternoon. His normal pediatrician was out so he saw another doc. Since Conrad has his 15-month well check next week, we need to talk to his doctor about options for him. Apparently, they get very concerned if there are 7 ear infections in one year. Considering he just finished an antibiotic 2 weeks and 2 days ago for a prior ear infection, ear tubes may be looming in our near future. I'll keep you posted.

Where is summer or at least spring?

Conrad definitely wants to know the answer to this question. From the looks of this picture, we will have quite the little fish this summer. I'm sure we will upgrade this baby pool to a toddler pool. Maybe one of those plastic ones with a built-in slide? Or whatever cool, new pool Wally World for Target is carrying this year.

Conrad is happy as a clam to wonder in and out of the house (he has mastered opening and closing the sliding screen door). And, we are happy to let him do so. For the most part, he plays great. Only once in a while does he wonder to the side yard where we can't see him.

Our biggest issue is him going to the corner of the yard where no grass will grow (probably because of your neighbors cedar tree. Yuck Cedar...for those of you not from Austin... Cedar this time of year wreaks havoc on your allergies). Anyway, he likes to climb over the little landscaping rocks (though there is NO landscaping) and stand in the dirt and randomly eat stuff---dirt, wood chips and no telling what else. We usually catch him, but he has arrived at the screen door with a dirt mustache and beard. Gross. He is definitely a boy.

Busted

Conrad was big time busted the other day. He is becoming quite the climber. Apparently, this was not his first attempt at climbing onto the stove. His dad reports, he did this earlier this week and was putting his animal crackers underneath the burners! Yikes!!!

This time around, he was trying to pull off the burners. And yes, that is a red bungee cord that we have rigged up so he can't pull down the oven door. He very much enjoyed pulling it down and climbing on top of it.

We broke down and bought a toilet lock a few weeks ago after finding Conrad throwing all of his bath toys into the toilet. We at least know he has the concept of water down.

Mine

Image courteousy of flickr

We received the following note from daycare today:

"Conrad's also telling everyone that everything is MINE!"

and so, it begins. Do you think we can get him to say Be Mine before V-day? Yeah, I doubt it either.

Gratis

The best toys in life are free, Conrad has decided. He loves dumping laundry (folded or not...usually not) out and playing with the basket. He also loves playing with one of his dad's golf irons. And here we thought he needed the latest and greatest that Toys R Us or Target had to offer. I think we need to take a lesson from Conrad. **No, my kitchen floor is rarely that clean- but it is today thanks to the fab steam mop.

Not one but two

I should have guessed this since all of his other teeth have come in pairs, but I didn't. Conrad is getting both of his upper first molars. The second one has started to break through. Still no sign of his lateral incisors on the left side. Maybe he will catchup on those. In case inquiring minds want to know about the estimated eruption of baby teeth, enjoy the one above. I even shaded it for illustration. The dark gray is teeth Conrad already has in. The light gray molars are in progress.

Baby Molar

Starting Wednesday, Conrad cried when eating his snack with Dad and again at dinnertime. Since he already has 6 chompers and we haven't seen any new teeth in a while, I figured he must be teething. So I went digging--- only to have Conrad bite down on my finger making it difficult to see if any new teeth were poking through. I didn't find any.

His crying continued yesterday so I tried again....and low and behold his 1st baby molar is breaking through on the top, right side! The first time, I didn't go back far enough because I thhought it was the lateral incisors on his left side not a molar. It has already broken through but I'm not sure if it is completely through since the stinker insisted on biting down on my finger. Dad says he will be eating steak in no time!

So he now has all four central incisors. The right top & bottom lateral incisors and a baby molar on the right side. I guess he favors his right side since the left side has yet to produce any teeth. Conrad is great about brushing his teeth every night, but you guessed it, he bites down on finger brush every night too!

Bugged out

When all else fails, give Conrad your sunglasses. If you need him to stop wiggling to get his diaper back on, give him your sunglasses. He really thinks he's cool when he's trying on your sunglasses.

However, he has become quite a prow at taking them off so you need to be quick when trying to get a picture.

I used Picnik to alter this cute picture of him in my shades.

Happy 1st Birthday

We're a bit late getting these posted. Thanks to all of our friends and family who joined us in celebrating this milestone. I'm sure nobody will soon forget our crazy kid putting out his first bday candle with his hand. Who does that?!?!? Conrad does.

Don't worry, he didn't even get a burn. I think the hot wax hurt him and I quickly peeled it off. As the pictures indicate, he was not deterred by the bumpy start.

Special thanks to my sister for her amazing job in creating Conrad's giant jungle cupcake and all the cute cuppy-cakes! Hey Cupake has nothing on this girl.

New do

Conrad and I tried out some new hairstyles in the bathtub a couple of nights ago. You like?

He definitely likes drinking bathwater out of that cup. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures of that.

Dizzy busy bee

Hope you enjoy the video. Conrad definitely had us laughing with his antics last night. This video is a bit reminiscent of the video of him first walking.

Vote

Have you voted yet? We did!

Other Notables

Here is a run-down of other things going on at our house. Conrad is quite the little caretaker. He loves playing with his "baby" = Jill's old cabbage patch doll. He has learned to open the drawer below the oven and enjoys playing with the lids and dragging them around the house. We also changed his carseat to forward-facing and as the picture indicates, he is loving it!