Saturday, February 17, 2018

Happy 5th Birthday Connor!

Connor turned 5 today and it's a day to celebrate for sure!  Here are 5 amazing things about our sweet boy.

Pure Joy
As you've likely seen through our posts, Connor has this pure joy about him.  He is such a happy kid (and trust me, we couldn't always say that).  He is almost always happy.  And when he's not?  That's okay.  None of us are happy all the time, so I wouldn't expect him to be happy ALL THE TIME either.  
 

I love driving him home in the afternoons and when I think he's asleep hearing him just start cracking up laughing.  We always ask him what jokes he has.  

I love his joy.  It's contagious.

What He's Taught Us
Connor has given me many, many lessons these past five years:

1. It's nice to have expectations, but don't get too crushed if things don't pan out the way you want them to (I'm looking at you Halloween 2014).

2.  Plans are nice, but again, don't get too crushed if they don't work out.

3.  Keep me happy.  That means if I'm happy, you don't really need to mess with me...

4.  Live each day to your fullest.

5.  Play all the music (especially Pandora's Toddler Radio).

6.  Don't forget to smile and laugh.

7.  Even when I'm sad, sick, upset, not quite myself, etc.: I'll always come back to being your happy and sweet boy.

I know I could go on and on, but I'll stop there.

Strength He Exudes
I have to say, and I've said it many times before, Connor is my hero.  He is so stinkin' tough.  Way tougher than I am.  

I remember taking him for a routine eye appointment in November 2016 and his eye pressures being alarmingly high.  That was on a Thursday evening.  

They gave us a prescription and wanted us back in the office the next morning.  His eye pressures were checked and they wanted to see us again Monday morning.  

This video is from Monday night...the night before surgery.

On Tuesday, we had eye surgery.



Connor the next day getting his pressures checked again.

Why do I mention this surgery, when he's had other ones?  Did you watch that video?  How was Connor acting?  Connor's eye pressures were extremely high.  Abnormally high. Get this kid in for surgery as soon as we can high. 

As his doctor put it, if our eye pressures were that high, we would be absolutely miserable.  Connor?  Not at all.  

Another point to prove it (as if you didn't know already how tough he is).  The video below is the day of his feeding tube surgery.  Not only did he get his g-tube, he had the following done: 4 teeth pulled, Nissen fundoplication, bronchoscopy, and ear tubes.



I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be that peppy the night of a major surgery. 

I am in constant awe at how tough he is.

Progress Made
While there are clearly many things that Connor cannot do, and it's so easy to get bogged down in that thought process sometimes, he has really made some great strides.

He has grown (a lot).  Check out the photo change below!



His personality has come a long way.  I know most babies cry a lot, but it just seemed never ending sometimes with Connor.  It's so nice to have such a happy boy.


He has definite likes versus dislikes.  Particularly with music...there are some songs we have to give a 'thumbs down' to on Pandora and others that he loves. 

He recognizes voices and will smile and get super excited with certain ones (I'm looking at you NaNa).

He has a sense of his surroundings and knows what he wants.  He's okay being in his chair at school, but at home, he knows he has other options that he would prefer (like his mat or his crib), and he won't hesitate to fuss at us to take him out of his chair.

Connor moves all over his mat in his own little scooting method.

Personality
This is kind of a repeat of what I've already said, but he really has the best personality.  He knows exactly what he likes and what he doesn't (and he won't hesitate to let you know he doesn't like something). 

He's okay with trying new things, but he's perfectly content to just do what he normally does.  He tried out some kinetic sand and chocolate mousse for his birthday.  Check out the videos!



He loves being around people, noise, and chaos (I think he finds weekends with us to be quite boring).

We are so very blessed to have Connor in our lives and I am thankful for not only every year we have with him, but for each and every day.  Happy Birthday sweet boy.  We love you so very much.

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