Like Mother, Like Son

Whenever I do my hair (which is a very rare occasion!), Conrad hears the blow dryer going and he comes running into the bathroom saying "more". Once I finish I give him the blow dryer. He loves feeling the air coming out, but lately he comes and grabs the round brush and starts doing his own hair. He has even learned how to turn it on and off.

-Katie

On the Bathroom Floor

Conrad's new favorite place, right on top the heater vent!

Sunday Dinner

Ransom and I decided to start having our own Sunday dinner every other week so that we can spend more time as a family. Our life during the week is a little crazy with our work schedules and Ransom going to school.

We went on a drive up the canyon. Lots of the leaves have already fallen off, but it was fun being together. After we came home and made dinner. Yesterday we cleaned out the freezer and found a big bag full of unfrosted sugar cookies from almost a year ago. We pulled them out and decided to finally decorate them. After Ransom intricately decorated a few cookies he looks at me and says, "As fun as this is, this is going to get old fast." After that it was one color of frosting and lots of sprinkles. Conrad was just happy licking frosting off of the cookies! We didn't quite finish so I think I'm going to get stuck decorating the rest of the cookies.

I think I am really going to like having a whole day with just the three of us. -Katie

Aren't Ransom's cookies cute?

Our Little Lefty

Whenever Conrad sees someone writing on a piece of paper he seems to think that he needs to take over and start drawing. He draws the cutest little scribbles and it looks like he is going to be a lefty. My dad says that he can make lots of money if he becomes a professional pitcher so we're keeping our fingers crossed :) -Katie

Stolen Identity

One day I found my wallet on the floor and it had obviously been tampered with. Conrad has always liked to go through my wallet and Katie's purse. When I looked through it I found that my driver's license, my debit card, and several other cards were missing. This was right before Katie and I were leaving to San Diego so it was bad timing to lose a driver's license. I looked all over the house, everywhere possible. We even took apart the furnace vents to see if he had shoved them down there. They were no where to be found so we went to San Diego with hopes that we wouldn't get pulled over. A few days after we got back I was stumbling around the room in the morning and I happened to see something reflecting from the inside of our guitar. I looked closer and I saw all my missing cards! I started to shake them out and along with the cards came a big rock. You can never be sure what Conrad will use for his next hiding spot. -Ransom

A Gift for Conrad

While we were in San Diego I told Ransom I wanted to get Conrad a gift. I wanted to get him something so he would know we thought about and missed him like crazy. I know it's weird because he doesn't really understand and he was just fine without us, but it just made me feel better. Ransom just laughed at me, but helped me pick out something.

Conrad LOVED it. The first time he caught a bug he got the biggest smile and he made his goofy happy scream. It's the longest I have seen him interested in one thing. He hasn't quite mastered putting the bugs back, but he seemed to think that if he pushed hard enough he could get it in! -Katie

An Unforgettable Trip

Ransom and I had been planning a trip to San Diego for months. His mom and David were nice enough to drive up from Arizona to come and watch Conrad for us (thanks!). It was a long drive to San Diego, but we made it. We stayed at this weird little hotel called The Pearl. You could hear people hanging out at the restaurant and by the pool well after 1am. It was quite the party place.

A little bit of background about Ransom's eye. He gets this weird thing where his eye will start watering and hurt a little bit. He usually takes some benadryl and it goes away.

The next day we went to go look at a lighthouse at Point Loma. Ransom's eye was starting to water a little bit, but he didn't want to go get any medicine. The lighthouse was a disappointment because it was being fixed so it was all covered. Next, we decided to go to Balboa Park. It sounded like a cool place, but there was absolutely nothing to do so we decided to go to Old Town. We started walking around and I could tell his eye was really starting to bother him, but he still didn't want to get any medicine. All we could see were Mexican restaurants and tourist shops that sold a bunch of junk. We couldn't figure out why people loved this place until Rans finally decided it was hurting bad enough that he wanted to go get some medicine. As we were trying to find the car we found all the cool places. I was kind of bummed to leave, but I could tell he was miserable so it really wouldn't have been that fun to stay.

We went and got his medicine and I took him back to the hotel so he could get some rest. After a few hours it was a little better, but it was weird it hadn't gone away. We decided to go and get dinner. He went and asked the front desk for a good bbq place. They recommended a place called Phil's and it was packed. You had to stand in line and it was over 25 minutes. I was happy staying, but Ransom didn't want to so we went to find something else. We had my parents GPS and you can tell it that you want to go get food and it will show you all the closest places. We tried to find 3 or 4 of them, but none of the places existed when we got to the destination. It was funny the first couple of times, but then I just got frustrated and wanted to eat. After about 45 minutes of driving ALL over San Diego Ransom finally picked a place that was right by our hotel.

On Saturday his eye still wasn't doing any better. I told him I thought we should go to the ER, but he refused. We went to this huge aircraft carrier that had been decommissioned. It was so amazing to see how the men and women had to live while they were on it. It gave me a much greater respect for them because I could never do it. Ransom was miserable through the whole thing. He tried to fake it a long, but I knew he wasn't having fun, especially when he turned down a flight simulator. I finally told him that we were going to the ER.

After a quick call to my mom, we were on our way. We waited in the waiting room for 2 or 3 hours. I felt so bad for Ransom. He really looked miserable. After we got called back we probably waited another hour or 2 before the doctor came to see us. Ransom was at least in a semi comfortable bed, but the pain was getting worse. He said that it felt like someone was drilling in his eye. They gave him some eye numbing drops and checked out his eye. They said it was just an infection and gave him some antibiotics he needed to take. He started feeling a lot better after they numbed his eye.

While they filled his prescription we went to find a place to eat. We played the same GPS food game. I don't think there is a road we didn't travel on by the end! Finally we just went and picked up the prescription and decided to just eat once we got to Coronado. I was looking forward to visiting Coronado more than anything. It's a little beach town and it is so beautiful. When we got there it was so foggy you couldn't even see anything. We ate at a yummy mexican restaurant and walked around a little bit. It was the funnest part of the whole trip because Ransom finally felt good!

On Sunday we drove home. I was so excited to go and see my little Conrad. I missed him so much. I think it will be a while before I'm ready to leave him for that long again. -Katie

1 & 2: Ransom at a Police Museum

3: us by the ocean

1: San Diego

2 & 3: Ransom on an Aircraft Carrier

4: Ransom in the ER

Up to Something

Conrad was being really quiet in his room so I knew he was up to something dangerous. When I walked in his room I saw him petting the dinosaur and giving it kisses. He can be such a sweetheart sometimes. -Katie

Broken Glasses

The other day I was cleaning my glasses and they just snapped right in half. I have had them for over 6 years so I guess they just got worn out. I super glued them back together and quickly made an eye appointment. They kept breaking so Ransom thought it would be a good idea to Mighty Putty them back together and then maybe I wouldn't need a new pair of glasses. He tried a few times, but it just took too long to dry so he gave up and went back to the super glue. $400 later I got a new prescription, new glasses on the way, and contacts. I hate having bad vision! -Katie

Snuggle Time

This is one of my most favorite parts of the day, snuggling with Conrad. I would give up just about anything for more snuggle time. Lately when you put a movie in for Conrad he pats right next to him so we will sit by him. How do you resist that? I sure love him! -Katie