So much has happened!!

It's been a long while since I've posted anything and there's much to blog about.

December was a great month. On December 6th, Connor was blessed. And we are grateful that so many of our friends and family were able come share the day with us! My grandparents from Idaho, Brad's parents from Utah, my entire family from O.C. and some of our friends from work and the O.C. We blessed Connor in Sacrament meeting at 9:30 a.m. and then everyone went back to our apartment for lunch. It was a wonderful day!

(You can click on the collages to make them bigger.)

Then there was Christmas. We did an early Christmas on Sunday, December 20th with my family (Carvers) before heading to Utah on the 23rd for Christmas and New Year's with Brad's family (Jeppsons). I just love the Christmas season and it was so fun to spend it with both families. And, of course, it was Connor's first Christmas so that made it even more fun (probably more for me than for him).

Connor slept through most of the gift opening, but he got a lot of great stuff for his first Christmas! Dr. Suess and other books, clothes, toys, socks, burp cloths, and money to start his college/mission fund. What more could a baby want?! Grandma and Grandpa Carver definitely spoiled him!


We left for Utah at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 23rd. This picture was taken while waiting in the security line at LAX. Poor guy was exhausted from the early morning start.

He did great on his first plane ride, with a little help from Dad!


Christmas Day was spent with Brad's immediate family and the Gotberg and Jeppson extended families. We opened presents on Christmas morning at Brad's parents' house before going to the Gotberg party to eat lunch and do a white elephant gift exchange. Then later we headed to the Jeppson party for Christmas dinner, music, and games.


Brad and I had our first date without baby! Brad's parents gave us, and Brad's brother and sister-in-law (Brandon and Jen) tickets to a play and babysat Connor for us for a night. We had a great time at the show (Nutcrackers in Tights) and enjoyed Dairy Queen cookie dough blizzards in the car on the way home - while it was snowing outside.



All of Brad's family really enjoyed visiting with Connor, many of them meeting Connor for the first time. There was certainly no shortage of attention! Brad says Connor got passed around more times than a crack pipe at a hippie party:


Brad's youngest brother Jordan just recently became engaged and we met his fiance Jenika for the first time over the Christmas holiday. She is so fun and we're excited for her to join the Jeppson family in May!


While in Utah, we took the opportunity to do some sight seeing. We really miss Utah's beautiful mountains, so we drove up to Wallsburg (up Provo Canyon) early one morning to see deer. On the way, we also saw some wild turkeys! On our way back to Salt Lake, we stopped by the BYU book store and Connor experienced snow for the first time.


Later in the week we visited Temple Square with Brad's family to see the spectacular lights. To add to the beauty, it snowed! (Thanks Auntie Claire for the warm Pooh Bear bunting outfit that kept Connor toasty warm!)


With all of Brad's grandparents living so close to his parents' house, we were able to take the infamous 4 generation pictures.

4 generations of Jeppson:

4 generations of Gotberg:


New Year's was fairly uneventful. We watched a few movies with the Jeppsons on New Year's Eve before watching the ball drop and ringing in the new year. HAPPY 2010!!! Shortly after, we all went to bed. New Year's Day was similarly relaxing.

On January 2nd, Brad and I were able to meet up with some of my roommates from BYU and their families. It was a great party! Christine and I (from Cali), and Heidi and Mallory (from West Jordan) met at Heidi's house in West Jordan for lunch and games. How I've missed these lovely ladies!


We flew home early Monday morning, Jan. 4th. Connor couldn't have been better during the flight - he slept through everything, including takeoff and landing! That allowed us to get a little sleep also. Brad had to go back to work that day.



We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Here's to another great year ahead of us!

Family Pictures

We went to take family pictures at JC Penny a couple weeks ago. They were kinda expensive, but they turned out well and it was fun getting Connor all dressed up and posing him/with him.

I'm in love...

Connor has been smiling in response to my talking and smiles like this for about 1 week now and I was finally able to catch it on video. He's now 5 and a half weeks old, so it started when he was 1 month old.

I think this video deserves its own post. I'm so in love with this little boy, I can hardly stand it!

Happy Turkey Day!

Brad, Connor, and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We got to spend it with my family in Orange County and it was a nice long weekend filled with wonderful family, yummy food, fun pics and flics, and cute babies.

Brad and I arrived in O.C. late Wednesday and the first thing we did after getting there was give baby Connor a bath because he had a major blow out - what better way to start the Thanksgiving weekend?! Early afternoon on Thursday, we ate a DELICIOUS homemade turkey dinner complete with rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, and sparkling cider.


After we ate, we took family pictures at FloJo Park in Mission Viejo. It's much harder to get a good picture with 2 little babies, but I think we did pretty good!











After family pictures, a few of us watched State of Play with Russel Crow and Ben Affleck while the boys played XBox, and then some of us played Yahtzee and ate apple pie. Then on Friday, my parents and I went to see New Moon, the new Twilight movie (I'm reading the books too and I like the story - don't judge me :)) and the Smiths (Christine, Matt, and little Braden), some of our long time friends, came over to visit with Connor, Brad, and me (ok, just Connor, who are we kidding?).






On Saturday we went over to my sister Ady's in-laws' house in O.C. (the Castletons) for a BBQ and to watch the BYU vs. U of U football game. BYU won 26-23 in overtime!! GO COUGARS - RA RA, RA RA RA!!!

The Carver grandparents had a great time with their grandbabies this weekend:




And grandma Carver bought the babies their first Christmas outfits, so we had to take some pictures:




Connor and Jaxson are already best buds! They are so cute together!




We had a great weekend, and we're sad it went by so fast!

4 weeks (and 1 day) old!

Connor is already 4 weeks old! Yesterday was the 4 week mark and Monday the 23rd will mark 1 month. The time is absolutely flying, and I'm a little sad that the newborn stage is already almost over. He is growing like a weed (I think he's almost 11 lbs. now!) and he's getting more alert all the time. He smiles and attempts to laugh (it comes out as a couple of happy coos) and he is still doing great. He is sleeping in 4-6 hours stretches at night (which really helps my sanity) and we are so grateful he's here with us. We are feeling like we are starting to settle into this new lifestyle. It's so fun to be a mom (and Brad loves being a dad). Everything that was once so trivial is now new and exciting because Connor is experiencing it all for the first time.

Here are a few pictures that show what we've been up to the last couple weeks (again, I'm pretty sure some of these will bore most of you, but I post so many to suffice our distant family members that ask to see more :)).

He absolutely LOVES his swing! This is how he fell asleep in it once (don't worry, it wasn't swinging):




When Connor wakes up he does ninja moves with his hands. :)


Auntie Claire, Cousin Jaxson, Auntie Ady, and Grandma Carver all came up to visit Connor and me on Vetrans' Day:

Smiles for Grandma!



Cute cousin Jaxson.


We don't always get cute smiles... but I think he's cute when he cries too. :)

Loving the attention from Grandma Carver - he loves when you gently rub his face.


Playing dress up - trying on his winter coat and jeans (they're much too big right now).

We love daddy! This is during a skype call with the Grandparents Jeppson.



Snuggling up with dad to watch some TV. I just love to see these two together!!



Adorable sleeping baby.


He makes the funniest faces as he's drifting off to sleep. He goes from a frown to a smile in 3 seconds flat.


And I just love those smiles!!!

Tummy time for the first time!


First trip out to dinner. We went to Chilli's.


Connor has had several blowouts the last couple days. Brad refused to put him on the changing pad (even though there's a cover and we have extras) so he just hung Connor's bum off the end of the table. It was HILARIOUS to watch. Brad just about had a cow...



We met Jake (Brad's cousin), Brook, and their baby girl Alice (5 mos.) for lunch at Olive Garden today. They used to live in the apartment just below us but they just recently moved further into LA. It was fun seeing them, and Alice and Connor had a great time too!

I also took Connor in to meet my co-workers this week. It was fun to see all of them again and they were excited to meet Connor!

This is my boss, Rick. He's a character and so fun to work for!

Two weeks gone already!!

This has been the fastest 2 weeks of my life! Two weeks ago today our cute baby boy was born. The first week was a hard adjustment, especially since me and baby had some health issues (Connor got a staph infection from the hospital and I developed some kind of a rash on my legs that I'm still trying to get rid of, to name a few). But the second week has been much easier, and now I think we're starting to get the hang of things. My mom spent the first week with us and then Brad's parents came down to help us for the second week.

Connor is doing great. He's eating like an ox (and would probably eat the ox, too, if I gave that to him). His 2 week doctor visit was yesterday (Thursday) and we discovered our little kiddo has already gained a pound and a half since we left the hospital (he was born 9 lbs 2 oz, he left 2 days later at 8 lbs. 8 oz. and is now 10 lbs. 1 oz.)!! So he's certainly not wanting for food...

He is getting bigger everyday and he is such a good baby. He sleeps and eats in roughly 3 hour intervals (like when I was pregnant with him!), sometimes a little longer now that he's getting bigger, and he is so happy and smiles a ton. He is more alert and he can already hold his head up really well. We love our little guy so much and it's been so fun watching him grow over this last little while. We are so excited to see what the days, weeks, and years ahead will bring!

Here are Connor's stats from his 2 week doctor visit:

Weight: 10 lbs. 1 oz. (90th percentile)
Length: 22 inches (90th percentile)
Head: 37.5 cm (75th percentile)

And a few pictures from the second week:

Snuggling with Grandma Jeppson

Saying goodbye to Grandpa Jeppson on Sunday (Grandma Jeppson stayed until the following Sunday).


He is too cute when he sleeps!

Visitors!! So nice to see someone from the outside world after being cooped inside for 2 weeks!

I went in to check on him during a nap and he was wide awake just hangin' out in his bed! Not even a peep!

Play time with Grandma.








Hangin' with dad.



Again, too cute when he sleeps!

This is how he falls asleep after I feed him - with his little arms tucked under his chin. Love it.


First time using his baby bath. We're not too sure about it at first, but he quickly warmed up to it.

"Hey, hey ladies, join me in the hot tub? Fist bump."

Fantastic mowhawk and a great picture that shows how much he looks like his daddy!!


We just love our little boy!!