Our Night Time Prince

This Utah vacation has been tons of fun. I have taken over five hundred pictures, most of which will probably just end up on my hard drive never to be seen again, but there are those few that you just want to blow up huge and keep admiring all the time. Now of course I am a biased parent, but...

Utah!

We finally made it out to Utah. The 2 plane trips we took were not that bad actually. Kenny did not have any problems with the first plane trip, it was the second one that we all struggled with though. None of it was his fault though, it was past his nap time, and you know how a baby can be if he does not get his nap. On the plane we were fortunate that a very kind woman gave up her seat so that we could have a whole row to ourselves. For any parents out there that will be doing any travleing with infants under age 1, try and get a whole row if you can, it makes all the difference in the world. It has been snowing on and off for the past few days, and Kenny seems to be enjoying it.

Belly Like a Bowl Full of Jelly

Those of you that have kids will know, that there is no sound quite like the belly laugh of your child, especially when you hear it for the first time. Kenneth and I had been playing for 5 min or so before Kimberly walked in with the camera, so this is only the tail end. It is a sound I don't think that any parent can forget.



My only regret is that we did not catch any of the actual "belly laughing" on camera.

Snowman Kenneth

These were some pictures we took in the house, 5min in photoshop, and... well this is what came out.

Poopin' and Chillin'

Yes, we are some of those crazy parents who actually believe you can potty train a child at 4 months of age. And for all you skeptics out there...it actually works. We have saved so many diapers already!

And this is just a picture of Kenny chillin'. We thought it cute and ridiculously hilarious.

I Like to Eat

School, work, and Thanksgiving has kept us really busy these past few weeks, but alas I should be back and keeping the blog updated more often again. Over the break we introduced solid foods, rice milk. He just had his shots, it was getting late so he was tired, and we didn't know it at the time, but he had bad gas. As soon as Kimberly picked him up he tooted, and then felt much better. The following morning we had tremendous luck.



The post eating interview.




That night he did sleep through the night, for the second time now. We're still waiting for repeat performance.

Johnny Jumper

Grandma bought Kenny a Johnny Jumper and he seems to take a liking to it. I always wonder what babies are thinking when they are made subject to the things their parents impose upon them... Some of the dialogs that go through my head as I watch my son helplessly placed in various contraptions we come up with.

Halloween Kenneth

Have you ever seen a cuter tiger?!

More to come from out Halloween tike.

Motherease

When I learned about Motherease in psychology I never thought I'd be caught dead talking like that to any of my children. Well...all it took was one child and there I go. It's one of those things you just can't help but do. When I saw his reaction to me when I spoke like that, I was caught, hook, line, and sinker. Kenny gives a little coo at the end of the video, but I'm not sure the mic picked it up very well. Kenny and I have these sort of talking sessions every day, it's a blast. All this just verifies that having a kid was one of the greatest decisions I've ever made.

I've been meaning to put this video up for quite a while now... This was only the tail end of what Kenneth deemed a really fun game. Every time he went up and came down he had the biggest grin, this went on for about 5 min or so. Uncle Stephen and his curious workmanship of fun.

Father and Son

Someone once told me that my son didn't look very much like me... I scratched my head and asked, "You think not huh?" Call me crazy, but he looks an awful lot like dad, you tell me.

Look at Him Grow!

We have become acutely aware that our son is growing at a kaleidoscopic rate... Boy he's getting chubby. 10 lbs today!

The McConnell Clan

This was one of the reasons Janice was so excited to have everyone around. We have the two responsible for the whole thing (Granny and Papa), Mike and Janice, all five of the McConnell children (last family picture being over 5 years ago), and Lucas and myself.

Oklahoma

We had a fun weekend. We all went up to OK for a wedding. And when I say all of us, I mean all of us. This was the first time in 5 years that all the McConnell clan was able to get together. Stephen made it home from Thailand all in one piece, and Lucas and I were able to be there as well, completing the whole family. The wedding was Megan McConnell Tim Watts.

We didnt' get to talk with the happy couple much, but that's understandable. The wedding was one of the very best I had ever attended. Come to find out, the pastor is of Tim's best friends (Megan being his BEST friend).

The next day we went to church then headed to Granny's house for food and of course pictures. We had quite an eventful time trying to figure out WHERE to take the picture, not to mention just getting everyone together. This is a bit of a glimpse...





And of course boys will be boys...We created a whole lot of memories, and took far more pictures than I am going to post here, but as luck would have it on the way home we ran into the happy couple we didn't get a chance to talk to. This chance meeting was at one of the random rest stops along I-35.

As I am currently being rushed out of the house to go to dinner, and I close with a picture of a sign that I had no idea existed in Texas, but I love it.

JB You Gotta be Kidding Me...

Kimberly caught me off guard at first. I didn't know she was filming our daily chess lesson. Kenneth and I do this every night for 5-20 minutes, depending on his attention span. So lets see...14 kids (all with chess lessons starting at 6 weeks old), 7 will "like" chess, 3 will love it, and atleast one of those 3 will turn out to be GREAT at it. That's how I figure it anyway, the Law of Halves. I also predict my first loss at chess when Kenneth is 13 years old.

“All I want to do, ever, is just play Chess” ~Bobby Fischer

Gma & Gpa

A visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house produced this picture. Of course we have Grandma doing her utmost to avoid her face being in the picture. If Kenneth looks a bit dazed, it's because that camera flash was going off pretty much nonstop that day. Kimberly realized that we had not taken any pictures within the last 24 hours I think.

We're not sure what he was thinking here, but we are confident it was something serious and
important.


I don't think that I can put up enough pictures of my beautiful wife and handsome son. No matter how many times I see them, or how long I get to be with them, they always, always, always, bring warmth and happiness to my soul.

More to come, in a day of the life of a Heck

Just Hanging Out

I LOVE this picture. I can't figure out why exactly, but for some reason when I saw Kimberly and Ken I just started laughing and HAD to take a picture. He is OUT, dead to the world. This is one of the only 2 ways that Kimberly can do anything in the house, other than feed the little monster.

Event of the week

This is the smile of the week! Kenneth LOVES his bath time. He does not get this from his father, it definitely is a trait inherited from his mom.

Diaper Extravaganza

Today was quite eventful. Uncle Jacob had his first experience changing a diaper. Oh what a memorable one it was too. Kenneth was making all sorts of grunting noises and Kimberly was excited for Jacob to change this diaper. Reluctantly Jacob agrees, and upon opening the white wrapping there was nothing to be discovered! Jacob let out a triumphant laugh and was happy to only change a wet diaper. Well, as luck would have it for him, as soon as he started wiping, Kenneth opened the main hatch and the back door let our their flood gates. Before he knew it, Jacob had a poopy surprise EVERYWHERE! Kimberly and Janice could not stop laughing. Jacob was stuck holding Kenneth's feet up, out of the mess, and they just continued to laugh. When the tidal wave settled he started cleaning up the mess, only to find round two quickly on it's way. The renewed laughter consumed Kimberly and she was forced to leave the room, Janice just continued to watch and laugh, watch and laugh...Poor Jacob. This went on for about 5 or 6 minutes, but for Jacob I'm sure it was much MUCH longer. The end result was Kimberly and Janice giving poor Kenneth a bath, and a scarred Uncle Jacob never again to be tricked into changing a dirty diaper. While Jacob may not change a diaper for a very long time, this experience will last us a very long time.

Regrettably no pictures were taken whereby we may furbish proof of the incident, but we all know, and we all remember.

These are a few of those pictures we took, that we had so much fun taking. We are doing this mainly to keep all our family and friends up to date with what is going on in our lives. With all the picture requests that I am getting, I am finding it increasingly difficult to email everyone. Please leave comments, share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. We love hearing from you, and look forward to keeping this site updated and current. (I could not help but put a pictures of the 9ft giant up on the site, we love you David)

Pictures

Kimberly and I were looking around at our walls, and noticed that they were void of any pictures of our son. So we decided to take some pictures and begin filling our wall, like most parents do. Well, taking the pictures was fun, but the pictures don't really tell the story as to why it was fun. This video is just a short clip as to why we enjoyed it so much!