There it is

Finally a picture that shows Clayton's tooth! It is hard to even catch a peek of this tooth, and the second one just beginning to show, much less get a picture of them! The reason for this picture was not even the teeth, but rather the Cheerio stuck on his chin that we thought was hilarious. I love that he was oblivious to the Cheerio being there; he probably wondered why in the world we were all laughing so hard.

Coffee Geek

Most of you may know that Clay is a big coffee geek, or coffee snob-- however you choose to look at it. He got the itch to roast his own coffee beans this weekend. He had heard that an old fashioned popcorn popper could serve as a personal roaster, so he dusted off my family's old popper and gave it a try.

green beans from one of our favorite local coffee shops, Primavera

Clay stirring the beans as they "roast" in the popcorn popper. (The black and white was an accident but makes the process look a little less redneck than it is.) If you look closely, you can see the chaff flying off the bean.

cooling the beans

dark roasted beans

the finished product

Clay is waiting at least 12 hours to grind and brew the beans, so we don't know how they taste yet, but hopefully he'll be satisfied!

Long Gone

Ok, this is getting ridiculous... It has been WAY too long since my last blog post. It is not that I don't think about posting; it's that I find so many other things to do with my "free" time. I will clean the house, do laundry, talk on the phone, read, cook, think about taking a nap... and so on and so on... all before blogging. I really do want to be a consistent blogger; I know that consistency is what makes a good blog. So, I'm breaking the ice again... I'm hoping that maybe this will jump-start me from thought into action...

Really, so much has happened since my last post! The biggest things include Clayton starting to crawl about 2 weeks ago (and pulling up on everything this week) and getting his first tooth about a month ago (and working on #2 right now). For those of you who are moms, you know that those two things bring many other changes along with them. Clayton was baptized in May, he is expanding his vocabulary from exclusively "dadadada" to include "nana" and a few "mama's", is finally sleeping and napping well consistently... he is sometimes sort of waving "bye-bye", is working on finger foods-- all the typical developmental changes that are so exciting for moms. I am so proud of him. We learned at his 9 month check-up that he had not gained even one single ounce since his 6 month check-up, so, upon the encouragement of our pediatrician, we have been feeding him TONS of solid food. We will find out Monday if he has gained some weight! I think he has; I hope he has!

We have been enjoying summer and all that it brings-- cooking out with friends, traveling to see family, the lake, Clay's softball games, walks around the neighborhood, playing in the baby pool with Clayton, eating and relaxing on the deck (that Clay built) in the evenings...

That's a very brief summary of where we are and what we're doing... I realize that most of you (whoever you are) would rather see pictures of Clayton than read my thoughts and words, so here you go! I could post a ton of pictures of some of the things we've done this summer so far, but I'll just stick with a couple from this last week and let you look at the other pictures here.

Easter

1 Corinthians 15 says...

"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins... If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead... In Christ shall all be made alive."

I stand in the Gospel.

I am being saved by the Gospel.

We had a wonderful Easter. Here are a few pictures of Clayton looking like a little Easter egg.

His latest cute thing is biting his lower lip like this

Too many pictures, mommy!

6 Months Old

It is hard to believe it has been half a year since Clayton was born. He has grown and learned so much already... so have I. I can hardly wait for all that is yet to come.

This morning in our bedroom, Clayton and I dozed together. His head lay on my pillow; he was facing me. In the still and quiet that comes before sleep, he looked into my eyes without looking away for quite some time. It made my heart hurt. I was reminded of Whitman's words in "Song of Myself"... "Sometimes touching another person is more than I can bear."

6 Months Old

I looked through some old photographs to see how much he has grown and changed...

About 3 weeks old

6 months old

One week old

Almost 6 months old

About 2 weeks old

6 months old

Discovery

Clayton has discovered his feet this week. He loves to play with them and put them in his mouth. What fun!

Adorable rosy cheeks and curled toes

First Foods

Clayton started eating solid foods last week. He started with rice cereal, and then we added sweet potatoes this week; tomorrow we will move on to carrots or squash. So far, he seems to love to eat-- he leans forward as if he's anticipating the next spoonful, opens his mouth, and even fusses a little bit if I don't seem to be going as fast as he'd like...

I feel like I say this, or at least think it, at some point every day, but he is growing so fast. Five months ago, solid foods seemed forever away; now it's those early days and weeks that are a distant memory. We've grown quite used to one another in the last five plus months; I'm more comfortable in this skin of motherhood... I can read him like a book these days-- knowing what he needs when he needs it seems to come natural now. I'd be willing to bet that he can read me like a book too. I am having so much fun doing life with him...

Here are some pictures of his first experience with solid food:

Not so sure about that first taste and texture...

but it grew on him pretty fast (see the open mouth)

I can't seem to get it to his mouth fast enough

I love those eyes and that widow's peak with no hair

He seems kind of sad that the food is gone

It Wasn't My Idea

I hope he does not get mad at me for this when he is older...

Clayton's cousin, Courtney, had this dress up Little Mermaid wig... his cousin, Chris, thought it would be funny to put it on Clayton. I thought it was pretty funny myself. Do these remind anyone of the new Wendy's commercials?

Snow Day

Yesterday morning we awoke to snow falling and blanketing the ground... It was the first time it had snowed since before Clay and I were married; it was the first snow of Clayton's life. But what made the day so special was not actually the snow... it was my family that I enjoyed the snow with. Without Clay and Clayton, snow is just snow; with Clay and Clayton, snow is making memories-- building a snowman, snowball fights, staying warm and cozy together in the house... If I were alone on a snow day I suppose I would feel more isolated than excited, more cold than warm, more bored than entertained... Clay and I laugh that the old cliche saying, "you double your joy and half your sorrow" with family is actually very true.

Here are some pictures of our snow day:

Clayton looking out the window at the falling snow


I absolutely love that grin


Everyone says he is starting to look more like Clay every day

The smallest snowman Clay has ever made

The snow almost covered the ground for a couple of hours

Funny Things

A few pictures from some funny things Clayton has done lately:

Enough said

Uh oh... I think he might be flipping a bird

He gets as stiff as a board when we hold him up in the air

Sons

I recently read these words on the blog of a family friend and they touched my heart. The writer is a mother to five boys, and writes about her role in their lives as they grow into men. She is worried about her son's safety as he ventures out on his own for the first time.

She writes, "...and then I remembered why he was given to me to begin with-- to give him to the Lord... He is not here for me. He is not here for me to hold on to. No matter how much I love him, if I love him, really love him, I will raise him to let him go. And rejoice in that releasing."

She goes on to quote a godly man she heard on Christian radio about the mother/son relationship: "When your son is little you are BIG in his life. As he grows you should become smaller and smaller and smaller. You will go from big in his life to small in his life. This is good. This is right... Begin to make that transfer in your mind... begin to release your fingers that are tightly holding onto his hand... don't be a hindrance in him reaching manhood... be an aid."

I pray that the Lord would use me as an instrument in Clayton's life-- to show him the Gospel as I relate with him on a daily basis, to train him, to build him up, to empower him to become a man.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is always a special time of year-- reflecting on and celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, enjoying fellowship with friends, spending extended time with family, observing old traditions and starting new ones... I treasure many moments and memories of this time of year...

It is interesting to look back at Christmas one year ago... I found out I was pregnant on December 21st, 2006. I remember vividly certain times last Christmas season wanting so badly to have a child, all the while being pregnant and not yet knowing it. I laugh at the irony of playing Mary in the Walk-Thru Nativity at Briarwood, in the scene where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive and bear a son. I remember trying to keep the exciting news a secret until it was "safe" to tell and my sister, Julie, finding a picture of my positive pregnancy test on my digital camera, thus prompting the telling of my family on Christmas day and Clay's family the day after Christmas. I remember praying that the Lord would give us a son. It was so much fun looking back and remembering those things this Christmas...

Clay and I had so much fun celebrating Clayton's first Christmas this year-- picking out our Christmas tree as a family, letting him sit on Santa's lap and getting his picture made with Santa, taking him to look at Christmas lights (even though he was dead asleep in the carseat), taking him to the Walk-Thru Nativity, going to Zoolight Safari, to the Christmas Eve Candelight service, filling his stocking, looking to see what Santa brought on Christmas morning... It is so much fun having a kid at Christmas-- even one who does not understand anything about Christmas yet.

Here are some pictures of some of the memories we made this Christmas:

The family at Zoolight Safari

Curiously looking at the animals and lights at Zoolight Safari

Such a little man in his button-up Polo

Christmas morning

Clayton is excited about his first Pez he found in his stocking. The Conner tradition lives on...

I absolutely love this profile picture. Clayton is staring down one of the toys on his new exersaucer.

Clayton smiling at GG; look at that dimple!

Santa!

Clayton and his friend Matthew Pattillo sat on Santa's lap for the very first time today! Clayton was very brave; he did not cry, and Matthew slept through the experience. I think he might have told Santa that he wants an exersaucer and a doorway Jumper for Christmas. As with most things Clayton has experienced for the first time, I think mommy enjoyed it more than he did!