Before we forget...

A few things we want to remember that William used to say (and sometimes still does) before he stars to really talk like a college grad...

simote = remote
cemixer = cement mixer
tomato chips = potato chips
the diamond room = the dining room
amblieeance = ambulance
ho-n-tel = hotel

He Who Notices Everything

William, to me, while eating dinner at Chipotle:  "Grown ups say 'right now' and kids say 'please'."

Me:  "What?  What do you mean?"  [Already sensing where this is going]

William: "When grown ups want kids to do something they say 'right now.'  When kids want something we say 'please'."

Denise:  "You think I should say please more?  I probably should.  I'll work on that, buddy. I promise."


Parenting 101, taught by Professor William.

William is "cracking" jokes - about easter eggs!

After his "big girl" cousins left this morning, William was super sad.  He cried at home and then he cried again when I dropped him off at school saying "the big girls left! the big girls left!".  :(

However, it appears his day turned around.  Here is the note from his daycare "report card" for the day:

"William was excited to discover the classroom Easter eggs!  He was very happy to see squirrels, dogs and trucks on our walk and he kept asking passers-by if they were pirates.  He ended up finding one that "aaarrrggghh-ed" him.  :)  William also held up an eggshell to his ear after nap and said it was an "egg cell"!  Ha!  Such a great joke!  He said he wanted to take the joke home with him.  :) "

In other news, Bridget has confirmed that Anna Kate is a baby genius.  She is already rolling from her tummy to her back!

18 Months Old

We had William's 18 month "well* visit" today.

(*I use the term 'well' loosely b/c he is still recovering from his Hand Foot Mouth infection.  Sorry again, Bridget and Mom!  I owe you big time!  B - Let me know when you/Wells want a night away and Michael and I will come to your house and watch all the kids...even if they're sick!)

He is:

• 25 lbs 5 oz (45th percentile - which blows my mind b/c he seems HUGE to me)
• 32.25" tall (50th percentile)
• 18.75" head circumference (50th percentile)

So, all in all, he is an average sized baby. :)

He's started talking a bit.  He now says:  More, up, uh-oh, ball, beaux, cat, car, truck, bubble...and I'm sure I'm missing a couple others.

He's also into anything with wheels, climbing, running, and kicking.  He is 100% pure boy.  And still showing signs of tantrums and frustration...which I'm guessing will only increase in frequency and magnitude for the next 12-24 months.  (Yay!)

Here are a couple pictures from William's stay at Bridget's house last week while we were in Mexico for Adam's wedding (Congrats, Adam and Melissa!).  He was definitely feeling yucky but apparently still ate cookies and goldfish crackers.

Was okay and playing with Oliver the day after we left...but illness was already brewing, because then...

 He wouldn't eat. Or sleep.  Or probably do anything peacefully.  But apparently he still ate cookies.  (You can see a few of the rash blisters beneath his mouth; and this was only a bit of it, Bridget said it was much worse than even this picture lets on..)

 Asleep on my mom's lap while watching "The Sound of Music".  And trying to get out one more goldfish to snack on in his sleep.

Staying with a houseful of girl cousins means you drink out of whatever cup you can get your hands on...in this case, a pink Hello Kitty cup.  (At least we didn't see any pictures of him in tutus or with purses this time!)

Whew. On the road to recovery. Finally.

Well, his fever finally disappeared yesterday and hasn't returned since (thank goodness!)

Today, we had his 15 month "well" check-up.  (I use the term "well" loosely, as he is still not 100% - still has a super runny nose and a cough, but "well enough for daycare, where he finally returned today after a 9 day absence.)

Anyway, this was a LONG stint of a cold/virus and I'm so glad it is on the way out.  I lost my patience with it about three days ago.

His check-up went well today:

• He is now 23 lbs 8 oz (in between the 25th and 50th percentiles)
• 31.5" (in between the 50th and 75th percentiles)
• head circumference is 18.5" (50th percentile)

He's still not really talking much, and the ped isn't worried yet, but wants us to keep naming things as he points (which he does ALL the time.)

Other news and tricks:

• He has learned to walk a few steps backward and he thinks it is funny (although it isn't quite "moonwalking", it's close)
• He is getting more and more picky about food and clearly knows that shaking his head means "no".  He uses this frequently when we try to give him food.  (What in the world happened to my good eater???)
• He knows the sign for "all done", but only uses it when I try to give him medicine and he doesn't want it...he hasn't really used it to signal "all done" with his meal.  :)
• He is stacking some blocks now...but still mostly destroying the stacks that you make instead.
• He still loves books - especially the truck book that Grandpa Mickey got him for Christmas. Thanks, Dad!
• A few weeks ago he gave me my first slobbery toddler kiss.  It was pretty cute. I look forward to more - less slobbery ones - in the future.

Sick

The poor boy is sick.

He was sent home from daycare on Monday morning, showing "symptoms of pink eye".

He felt fine and acted fine...and his eyes weren't even that goopy.  So, we played a little here and there and had some fun.  Then his eyes looked a little better on Tuesday, so I thought for sure he'd go to daycare on Wednesday.  And then his eyes got worse.  And then, this morning, he woke up with a 102.4 fever.

He slept on my lap for an hour while I caught up on a few DVR-ed shows.  That's the only good thing about a sick boy...he is WAY super cuddly.

He definitely feels badly though.  You can see it. 

He's all loaded up with acetamenophin and ibuprofen (yes, both) and I'm hoping he feels better tomorrow.

It's a good thing that I had a light work week, so I was able to give him lots of love and attention.

William - 1 year old

The boy is one year old.

Whew.  What a year.

Here is a snapshot of who William is at 1 year old:

• William is 23 lbs and 6 oz.  He is 31 inches "tall".
• He is still not walking, but does a good job standing - unsupported - for 30 seconds or so at a time.  He has taken a stumbling step or so, but that's not walking...that's just momentum driving him forward.
• Having been a superior eater, William is now showing signs of independence and, well, will.  He is more picky (although still a good eater).
• He still loves fruit most of all - especially blueberries.
• He has moved past formula and is on to whole milk, which was no big deal for him.  He is still taking bottles, and I need to start getting him off those and on to exclusively using sippy cups relatively soon.
• He's turned into a great nighttime sleeper - usually sleeping a full 12 hours.  (He naps okay - some days are great and others aren't...but if that is the tradeoff I make for a good nightime guy, I'll totally take that trade.)
• He is very much a mama's boy right now, but he sure is happy to see daddy, too.
• No talking yet...we thought for a while he was saying "book", but now we're not so sure...as apparently EVERYTHING is "oo. ook."  He doesn't really say "mama" or "dada" either.  He makes those sounds...just not directed at us.
• He still loves books and being read to.  He turns pages and even "reads to himself" by talking to himself as he plays with books.
• He has started interacting (nicely!) with Beaux.  He "throws" tennis balls to him and hands him toys as well.  Beaux remains unconvinced that this little guy is a good thing (an issue that will probably be an even bigger concern once W starts walking).

And, while we may not necessarily be happier than we were in our child-free life, we are certainly more fulfilled.  :)

His First Halloween and First Birthday

We celebrated BIG recently:

• 3 years of marriage
• 1 year of baby William
• William's first Halloween

We combined the celebration of our anniversary and W's birthday in a brunch this past Sunday.  I haven't uploaded my pictures yet, but will do so very soon.

The next day was Halloween and William got to be the "turnip" that he's always been in our minds!  (It has been his nickname since he was 17 weeks in utero!)  Thanks, Linda, for creating such an amazing costume!

Here is a quick picture of W in the turnip costume with daddy.  Birthday photos to follow later.

Just a Tuesday morning update

Just a couple quick things this morning...

• I *finally* started brushing William's teeth (7 of them now!) last night.  He thinks it is HYSTERICAL to have his teeth brushed.
• Aunt Bridget and the cousins sent some birthday books over so that William could "prepare" for his upcoming first birthday.  He really likes them.  Thanks!
• Poor W got his foot stuck in the crib slats last night - I had to go in and rescure him around midnight.  Must not have upset him too much though, because he pretty much went right back to sleep.

Another update about William

• William is still a big, big boy.  The ladies at his daycare seem especially impressed with his size as they are always talkinga bout how much he eats and today asked me, "was he a big baby when he was born?"
• He finally got his "bad report card" from the new daycare.  They asked, rather timidly, if "William was very demanding at home."  Ha - demanding?  That's putting it lightly!  They did say that they have learned not to put him in his highchair until his food is READY.  :)
• He seems oh-so-close to walking.  I think he'll certainly be walking by his birthday.
• We think he's saying his first word - "book".  And boy oh boy, does he love books.  LOVES books.  They are hands down his favorite kind of toy lately.
• I taught him to hold his play phone up to his ear ("Hello, is baby home?  Can I speak to baby?").  Well, apparently he didn't get the connection with it being a phone you hold up to your ear and instead holds ALL TOYS up to his ear and makes a sound that sounds like "hello?")  It's super adorable.
• He cut another tooth on the bottom...I feel like the 8th tooth (the corresponding one on the other side) must be right behind this one.  He wakes up at night when he is teething and is difficult to soothe.  Poor thing.  Must be really painful.  Oddly, his bottom teeth have been the biggest culprits...the top ones don't seem to bother him as much.

I'm glad I documented our "typical day" a few months ago.  Things have certainly changed.  Now a typical day looks like this:
6-6:30am - I wake up and get ready
7am - William wakes up and we head downstairs for his morning bottle
7:45 - 8am - I get him dressed and head out the door to daycare
8 - 8:30am - I stroll him to daycare (which is awesome).  Beaux comes with us.
8:30 - 9am - walk home from daycare with an empty stroller.  I look a little ridiculous, but only one person so far has said, "you lost your baby".  I do think a lot of people think it is weird though.
9-9:30am - get ready for work (change out of walking clothes, have some coffee, etc.)
9:30am - settle in to work for the day - sometimes from home and sometimes from The Workbox (http://www.attheworkbox.com/)
9:30 - 5:30 - work, work, work, with a few errands here and there
5:30 - head out (this time in the car) to pick the boy up from daycare.  usually when I get there he is all smiley and happy and adorable.  He now knows that I keep a pacifier in the cupholder of his carseat, so as soon as his butt hits the seat he grabs it and pops it in his mouth...even before I get his seatbelt buckled.
5:45pm - we're home and play until dinnertime.
6:15pm - William eats dinner.  so super fun to watch - he love love loves to eat.  His favorites are canned pears, fresh blueberries, tofu, and black beans...but he'll eat just about anything. 
6:30pm - He heads up to bathtime - usually Michael does the bath. It's a father son thing.
6:45pm - bedtime bottle - sometimes he takes it, somtimes he doesn't...sometimes he takes half.  The boy is unpredictable.
7:00pm - W goes to bed.  He is such a good sleeper right now - you just take him up, turn on his sound machine, hand him his paci and blankie and off he goes.  He makes these little "mmmm, mmmm, mmmm" noises as he gets cozy and settles in.
7:00pm - 8:30pm - we prepare and eat dinner.
8:30 - 10:00pm - watch tv, etc.  Prepare W's bottles for daycare for the next day.
10:00 - 11:00pm - somewhere in the neighborhood of when we go to bed.
...and then we start all over again the next day.

Turnip Update

I guess it is time for an update, huh?

William is now ~9.5 months old.  Here are some new tidbits:

• He has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom)
• He is crawling (started ~8 months old), and pulling up to standing.
• He has learned to clap - which is adorable.
• He started a new daycare (I miss the old one a lot, but this one is okay and is walkable, so it has been nice to get out for some exercise and fresh air with the boy every day.)
• He eats EVERYTHING in sight.  He started with Cheerios, but soon learned that table food was MUCH more delicious than pureed baby food.  And he promptly rejected pureed food.  (I can still squeeze a little into him so that I can depete my stash...but he prefers food that he can pick up and feed himself.

Retiring the Pump

As of today, I'm no longer nursing.

I am definitely sad to stop nursing the boy...because it is one of the few times he is still and calm and cuddly.

However, I am definitely NOT sad to be retiring the pump.  I. Hate. That. Thing.

In the end, though, I'm glad to have made it to 7 months, I think that William and I have both benefited from breast feeding.

On to the next phase, I guess!

(Also, happy 7 month birthday to William!)

Boat Ride!

We spent a few days at the river house this week...with me working and Michael and the boy having fun playing together. 

Don't feel too bad for me, though, I was able to join them on the boat for an hour one day for William's first boat ride.  He was a little cranky on the initial part of the ride, mostly because it was almost bottle o'clock.  He also wasn't quite sure what to think of his new life jacket (safety first, William!  safety first.).  But he managed to down his bottle and then the rocking of the boat put him right to sleep.

William is also sitting up on his own pretty well...at least for a minute or so before he topples over.

And, we STILL have not found a food that the boy won't eat.  He loves everything.

He's also recently into electronics....phones, remote controls, cameras, etc.  Basically anything that he could grab, drool on, and then subsequently ruin.  Boy, oh boy, is it time to baby proof things.

6 Months Old and Mother's Day

William turned 6 months old last week and today we had his 6-month check-up.

Stats:
Weight - 17lbs 9oz (50th percentile)
Height - 27" (75th percentile)
Head - 17 1/4" (50th percentile)

Fun Facts:

• Still pretty lazy.  He HAS rolled over from his stomach to his back, but he doesn't do it very often. 
• He has not yet rolled from back to stomach.
• We successfully unswaddled him and now he both naps and sleeps without being wrapped up.  Now, with more mobility in his arms and legs when he sleeps, he wakes up in different positions than we last left him in...with his head where his feet were and his feet where his head was.  He oftentimes can be found sleeping on his side.
• He's doing a little sitting now, but topples over after about 30 seconds or so.
• William continues to be a good eater - and has not refused ANY food that we've offered him (his list is now: sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, green beans, peas, butternut squash, apples, carrots, rice cereal and oatmeal).
• He can now hold his own bottle.  (He also can recognize his bottle from across the room and if he is hungry, there is NO getting around giving it to him.)  The boy definitely takes after his parents in his strong desire to eat.  Yum.
• He's already growing out of his 6 month clothes, and even one pair of size 6-9 month pants had to be put away because they were too small.
• Most socks will still not stay on his chubby little feet.  Michael thinks it is because he has cankles.
• He's still laughing, but still a tough crowd.  Michael by far gets the most laughs out of him.  He still doesn't seem to think I'm very funny.
• He's still not a good napper - especially at daycare, where he only sleeps in 5-10 minute increments...but his nighttime sleep has improved and now he does a pretty good job sleeping from 7pm-ish until 6am-ish.

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend.  The picture at the top shows William and I at the Strawberry Street Festival here in Richmond (Thanks to Aunt Bridget for the great hat...and thanks to Laura for letting us borrow some of Ben's cute clothes - that adorable yellow striped polo is his).  On Sunday, we visited with the neighbors and I took a couple hours off to do the Museum District Mothers Day House Tour.

Teeth!

They're not here yet, but they are coming.

William wouldn't even touch his "dinner" last night - I'm guessing because the food/spoon/etc. hurt his gums.  Poor kiddo.

Hopefully this will be a relatively short process.  But, even if it is short, I know that it is a process that will just keep repeating itself as more and more teeth come in over the next few months.

Oral Fixation

Well, it's official.  William will officially put anything in his mouth (good luck to us in the coming months with babyproofing!)

He has now successfully eaten:

• rice cereal
• green beans
• sweet potatoes
• avocado
• banana

He also used a sippy cup with a little water in it today with pretty good results.

Next up:  peas and then butternut squash

Reading Between the Lines

William gets daily "report cards" sent home from daycare. Usually, along with when he ate, napped and did tummy time, they are filled with notes about what he did that day. What books they read. What he was especially interested in, etc. etc. Sometimes, these notes say things that hint about him not being the best baby there ever was that day. They don't outright say he was a bad baby that day, but if you read between the lines, you can see it. A couple examples:

• "He really liked his one on one time today." really means William wouldn't sit by himself for even one second.


• "William is getting used to tummy time." really means William screams and cries when we set him on his tummy to strengthen his neck and arms. He is falling behind his peers.


• "He is fine as long as he can see me." really means William requires attention almost constantly.

However, Monday's note home was bad enough that I didn't actually have to "read between the lines." He did NOT have a good Monday. [No worries, though, Tuesday was better.]

If you can't read the above note, it says, "William had a 'hold me' Monday. He wasn't having fun with tummy-time at all. He enjoyed storytime as we read 'Animal Sounds' and 'Baby Mickey's Toys'. A bit fussy today. Yet he was content with tasting the book. Much love and care given by teachers. :) "

And, yes, William was "tasting" the book when I got there. Slobbering all over the pages. He was sitting in a bouncy chair where he teacher said he had been for only 5 minutes that day, otherwise insisting on being held. Ladies and gentleman, I have created a "hold me," attention-needy monster.

First Fever. :(

Poor William has been sick...he fought a high fever all weekend - ranging from just barely a fever all the way up to 103.4. Yikes.

Luckily, today the little man is feeling better and is off at day care so mommy can get some work done.

Starting Solid Food

We tried cereal for the first time on St. Patrick's Day...at about 4.5 months old. At first, he was confused by the contents that occupied his mouth after the spoon left...but by the end of the bowl he had figured out that he was supposed to open his mouth when the spoon came near.

He ended up finishing the whole bowl (1 tbsp cereal mixed with 3 tbsp formula), but I use the term "finishing" loosely, because I'm sure at least a third of it ended up on his bib.

4 months!

The boy is four months old!

He is drooling up a storm, which requires him to wear bibs almost every day...which totally ruins the style of his cute outfits!

We had his four month check-up yesterday.

• He weighs 14 pounds and 13 ounces - just about the 50th percentile.
• He is 25" long - just about the 50th percentile.
• His poor head though is still on the smaller side - 25th percentile. It doesn't LOOK small and I think that is because of his cheeks. Obviously, they aren't taken into account in the "head measurement". :)

In other developmental notes, he started laughing this past weekend. First he laughed at Beaux. Then last night he was laughing with Michael while daddy gave him his bath.

He has not laughed for/with me yet. Apparently I am not funny.

Right now:

• William loves his exersaucer.
• A burp cloth is one of his favorite "toys." He likes to hold it and "chew" on it.
• One of his favorite things is to have his socks taken off so he can rub his feet together
• He is getting used to daycare - which he seems to like, but also seems to find exhausting. He pretty much goes right to bed when he gets home. From what I've heard, he will get a bit more used to this and will get less cranky at night over the next couple weeks.