Here's To You, Connor George

I clearly remember the day Connor was born, March 3, 2003. My doctor scheduled an induction 10 days early because I was contracting and dilating for weeks before my due date, yet never felt anything stronger than Braxton Hicks contractions. He was concerned about me maybe delivering in the backseat of my car or in some random public restroom if we waited any longer. When I arrived at the hospital at the appointed time, I was already 7 cm dilated (which I thought was crazy at the time, and it is pretty unusual, but I was also 7 cm dilated when I got to the hospital to be induced with both Lucy and Mathilda). Connor came into the world nice and easy, a foreshadowing of his mellow and sweet personality. My labor and delivery were quick; Connor was born less than 3 hours after I arrived at the hospital. Our camera would not work so Chris sprinted to the drug store adjacent to the hospital to get a disposable camera. It seemed to take forever for the nurse to clean him and for the doctor to stitch me up. I remember waiting impatiently to hold him. And he sat there so nicely with the nurse, drinking his little bottle with his tiny ankles crossed. 

Bethany was 18 months old when Connor was born, which blows my mind because she seemed so grown up to me already at that point, and she was younger than Mathilda is now. I love that she doesn't remember a time without Connor, that the two of them have been two peas in a pod for 8 years now. Countless times they have been mistaken for twins.

Connor let me hold him and cuddle him, a welcome change from his independent older sister, who only wanted to be put in her crib when she was ready to sleep and never wanted to be held once she became mobile. He was cautious from the start, never taking a step until he was sure he wouldn't fall. He didn't fuss much as a baby, and continues to this day to be pretty much about the most easy going kid you could meet. 

Like me, Connor is introverted and quiet. Like Chris, he has a crazy sense of humor. By the time he was 2, his parlor trick was naming just about every Star Wars character you could think of. For years he had a fake laugh that we asked him to do all the time, and a deep, distinct voice. During his preschool years, he proclaimed himself to be "out of kisses" for over a year, and then one day they were back in stock and that was the end of that. A thumb sucker since infancy, Connor let us know he would be done when he was 5 years old. He woke up on his fifth birthday and never sucked his thumb again. Connor is quirky, silly and smart, and gobbles up books just as I did at his age (and forever more...). He's imaginative (there was that comic book thing), yet he's a total realist and can't pass up an opportunity to remind Lucy that those princesses she loves aren't real. My son valiantly carries on in a world full of girls, which I imagine will bring him much happiness and popularity when he's in high school and his friends are all interested in his sisters and he's interested in his sisters' friends. Until then, however...he deals quite well with the inundation of Barbies, princesses, fashion shows and sparkly make-up.

I would love to include a nice photo montage here of Connor since birth, but since I haven't yet begun to work on that goal of mine to organize all of my photos, I only have readily available, at the moment, pictures from the last few years.

5th Birthday - 2008

Preschool Bike Day

Tongue Roller

Holding a big snake in Florida

6th Birthday

Holding Mathilda at the hospital

7th Birthday

We celebrated Connor's 8th birthday with a family dinner at home, hamburgers and fries - birthday boy's pick. I made a brownie cheesecake, which looked pretty and tasted good.

Happy, happy birthday Connor Patrick. You have been a wonderful joy in my life for the past 8 years. Thank you for the being the very best son I could ever imagine having.