Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Connor's 3 Months Old

Well, where does the time go.  It turns out that as Connor has gotten older, become more alert, more active and generally more fun, Sara and I have far less time for things like exercise, dinner, relaxing and last but not least blogging (or at least that's what I'm telling myself, because it certainly couldn't be laziness or procrastination).  The last month has been great though, as Connor has transitioned to a very aware little boy, Sara has gone back to work, Connor has met lots of new friends at day care, and Sara and I have realized how short 24 hours really is.

Along with all the stuff at home we managed to make a quick trip down to San Diego to visit Nana and Papa and go to Connor's first Padres game.  We actually had gone to a Dodgers vs Phillies game in LA about a week earlier with Sara's office, but we decided that this game would be the true start to Connor's fandom.  He got decked out in his Padres gear (adorable socks included) and we headed down to Petco Park.  We got downtown about 45 minutes before the game and let Connor take a little nap and then have a quick bite to eat before heading into the stadium.  We got in after the first inning, in which the Padres had scored 4 runs already (for those of you who know the Padres, we assumed we had missed the entire offensive output of the evening at this point).  Connor was an expert baseball fan, with Papa teaching him all the intricacies of fielding grounders and throwing a curveball, and the Padres decided to show off, winning the game 14-1.  Connor was an absolute angel, allowing us to stay for the whole remainder of the game, and even managed to make a few friends with the people sitting around us.  Along with the game Connor also managed to see Great Gammer, Aunt Erin, Kris and Steve, John and Nancy, and Amanda and Jeremy.  As you all know, Sara and I don't generally like to leave any spare time in our relaxing weekends.

Along with the trip to San Diego we snuck in a few quiet weekends around the house.  We even managed to get another night out on the town, celebrating T's birthday while Grandma and Grandpa watched Connor for the evening.  It was great to be out with friends, and everyone at home loved their time together.

The other big adjustment that has happened in our lives recently is that Sara's maternity leave came to an end, meaning she headed back to work and Connor headed to daycare.  As we progressed through the pregnancy this was something that we realized we needed to focus on, and after visiting a few locations we decided on Beach Babies, a daycare facility in Redondo Beach, about 10 minutes from our house.  Sara was going back to work 3 days a week, which meant that Connor got to hang out with his friends for those same 3 days.  The transition was a little harder on Mom than it was on Connor, but they both managed it well and daycare has worked out really well thus far (I'm saying this a whole week into it, maybe get back to me in 3 months).  Sara typically drops him off at their facility at 7:30, and then I pick him up on my way home from work, somewhere between 3:00 and 3:30.  It seems that his day there typically involves some singing, some play mat with friends, and of course some painting (we've got his painting of a boat up on our fridge...I'm saying it's abstract).  Here at the Means house we're going to try and convince Mom to write a guest blog about how going back to work has treated her, so we shall see.

It is truly amazing to see all the development that Connor has gone through in the past 3 months.  He is now incredibly alert while he's awake, has started grabbing at toys (and necklaces and hair and...), is sleeping from 11pm to 6:30am (cross fingers, knock on wood), can support his own head when you carry him around, and a myriad other things that I can't write or put into words especially well.  We are having so much fun with the little guy and cannot wait to see what's next.