Shamrock and Roll

The first St Patricks Day was a good time had by all. Conor was in good spirits taking in the parade that was in Hillcrest on 5th and 6th ave. He ran into a few leprechauns out there, namely Mad Dog Lynum and Olivia from the North. All in all a good day til we went to lunch and a food fight broke out between conor and the waiter.

Mr Clean..............sort of.

What started out as a precursor to World War III has turned into one of the more fun parts of the day, the Daily Bath. Being a water dog, Dude is jealous as hell he can't get in the tub with the Conman, but that would only slow down the fun. After spending all day hurling sweet potatoes, drooling, teething, dog slobber from licking, and who know what else, Conor needs an overhaul in the hygiene department. It takes about 15 minutes but the end result is a rugrat wrapped up in a frog outfit ready to tackle another day.

Made in the shade

We recently went to breakfast with our friends Conor and Fiona. Conor Smith hails from Dublin and is nothing short of a fanatic (borderline Hooligan) when it comes to the Dublin Gaelic team so we had the Conman dressed up in the home jersey for Dublin. There were no fights, the police weren't called, everyone had a good breakfast until Conman started to melt down and we were forced to dine and dash. After a quick nap we were out to the bay for a little swing time.

Conor the cooking guy........

The Conmans' diet has shifted from liquid to not so liquid. Blended sweet potatoes are the highlight of the day, followed closely by pears. If you open a bottle of Peas, be prepared for armageddeon. Something about Peas, no one in this family has time for them. Even dude won't eat the stuff. Along with the new diet comes the dinner-time fun of blowing whatever it is that is in your mouth all over the place. It makes for great fun when the adults go back to work smelling like blended squash with a hint of banana.

Please do not annoy, torment, pester, plague, molest, worry,badger, harry, harass, heckle, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, or disquiet the animals

At 7 months old, we figured Conor was ready for the theme park magic so we went and got ourselves Zoo passes. The Conman loves animals like Dude, Elmo and Barney, we figured why not put him in touch with a real lion, elephant or North African Hornbill? We got him in the gates and the excitement overtook him, he immediately fell asleep! About an hour into the trip he started to wake up only to come face to face with a double hump Asian Camel Butt! The horror! he took in the Elephants, pigmy chimpanzees, and most importantly crazy goats in the petting zoo. All in all it was a scene right out of the Crocodile hunter!

How many toys can one kid need?

The Conman is swimming in toys thanks to hand me downs, gracious friends and relatives, and greed. As we speak he has over 40 DVDs of Barney, Elmo and Sesame Street (NO TELETUBBIES). He has enough Fisher Price stuff to keep their shareholders happy, and most importantly, nothing with lead paint, or so we hope. He will be making kids in the fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles happy when he is done with them and we send them to families that will enjoy them for their kids!

A little more from Christmas

Here are a few more photos from Christmas day.

Santa comes callin..........

Conors' first Christmas was a great day. We hit the beach with Dude while Conman was dressed up in his elf outfit which got some laughs by the morning beach crowd. Santa brought Conor a bevy of new toys, including some new elmo contraptions, a piano, and lawn darts.........KIDDING! Dude restrained himself from mauling Elmo and settled for a new duck that he has yet to destroy much to our amazement. We proceeded up to visit Nana and Papa and Kellys family in Temecula where the triplets pushed Conman around in a toy at mach 3 in the living room. All in all it was a great day!

Swinging by Santas place

Kelly and I took Conor to see Saint Nick at the Mall where he was making an appearance for the fee of $22 bucks. Conor wasted no time in grabbing his beard and yanking causing Santa to scream for help from one of his helpers who was busy bilking those in line for the photo package. We snapped our own photos to document the mayhem. Nothing like tuggin on Santas Beard

With such great friends................

We have had some great friends visit recently. Mary Murphy from Bagnelstown Co. Carlow in Ireland came over bearing a whole new Irish wardrobe for Conor, and he took to her immediatly. With Mary Murphy came Marie Brennan who is regrettably a Manchester United Fan. He took to both of them really well and had a great time drooling on them. Also Kellys Grandmother Thornton came rolling by to say hello so Conor got to ride on her lap which he really took to as well.

Growing up.................

So the Conman hasn't stopped growing. Our last visit to the Pediatrician he weighed in at 20 lbs which puts him in the 95th percentile for other kids his age. He barely fits in clothes for kids 12 months old. Its scary to think that he is going to be some offensive linemen or the like. He is starting to eat real food now, mainly the blended apples stuff, but he devours it. And on the sleep front he is starting to sleep through the night which is nice. He has bonded really well with Kelly and has started to show a lot of interacting with me........Dad.

The Grim Reaper meets the Monkeyman

Conors first Halloween was pretty funny.  We spent the night with the
Triplets in Lakeside, or should I say we spent the night with Batman,
a Pirate and a Princess.  Have you ever seen what 5pounds of pure
sugar does to Batman?  Its as if the  Tasmanian Devil was trying to
fight crime, butcouldn't stop running and screaming long enough to
get out the handcuffs.

Conor had a two pronged approach, he started as a pumpkin, and
morphed into a monkey which was theperfect, he looked like a  baby
monkey clinging to its mom.  We have had some huge help from
Gene and Celia lately and it isvery much appreciated, the lack of
sleep has been pretty hard on Kelly, but nowand again there are
long stretches of sleep.  Not sure but it seems that Conor weighs
somewhere near 19 pounds and is starting to get brownhair.  His
eyes are changing color slightly as well to a more Hazel color

Dude went as a gentle non barking dog, but it didn't take long for
him to tear off the outfit and put on the old fur................