Happy, happy camper

William has been having some super happy days lately.  He is really fun to be around recently.  This weekend we've taken a stroller ride each morning - the photo above is when we went to Ellwood Thompson's grocery to pick up some pear juice for a drink I was making for a friend's baby shower.  And this morning we went to the art museum sculpture garden so he could crawl around outside. 

In other baby-related news...

• He has rediscovered clapping after some odd weeks of completely doing none at all, he does it all the time now.
• He has also discovered stairs and LOVES to climb stairs.  He is super fast at them now which means it is time to put the baby gates UP.
• He has gotten his 8th tooth.  All front teeth on the top and bottom are now accounted for.

Sleeping In

That boy has started sleeping in!  And by sleeping in, I mean he is sleeping over 13 hours straight now....from around 7pm to 8:30am or so. 

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!)

A Typical Day

So I figured that my "typical day" is going to change through the years (even through the months) as time goes by, so I'll capture a typical day right now.  Just to have a record of it.

Because Michael's schedule changes so much (sometimes he works days, sometimes he works nights, etc.) he's tough to include in this typical day, but I've done so where I can.

• 7:00am - William wakes up, begins making baby noises.  Michael and I are usually awake now too, but still laying in bed.  (I am sadly coming to the realization that I need to start getting up earlier, before the baby, just to get some more stuff done.)
• 7:15am - William gets much more serious about his noises...turns into a whiny cry.  I get out of bed, wash my face and put in my contacts.
• 7:20am - I go in to get the boy.  He is usually turned around in some weird direction in his crib.  His diaper is SOAKED after a long night and usually gets changed before we head downstairs for him to eat.  He does NOT enjoy this diaper change.  His priority is food...not his wet bottom. 
• 7:30 - Downstairs sitting in my rocking chair nursing William for his "breakfast".  Usually watching a little DVR-ed Ellen or Oprah or Real Housewives of Orange County (or something equally as appalling).  During this time, Michael has probably come down to eat breakfast, make coffee and read the paper.
• 7:50 - I run up to get dressed while W plays in his exersaucer.  Because he hates being left alone, I have maybe 10 minutes before he starts crying again.
• 8:00am - I get William dressed and ready to go to daycare.
• 8:15am - off to daycare.  The drive takes about 15 minutes.  When we get there, I sign him in and we say hello to his teachers (Aunt Rhonda and Aunt Johnita).  Then I drive back home, get some coffee, and head up to my office.
• 8:30am - Michael is in charge of taking care of Beaux in the morning and walks/feeds him and then heads out to work around 8:30 or so.   He typically bikes to work if the weather is okay.
• 9:15am - Work. Work. Work.  And a little blog or facebook checking along the way.
• 12:00pm - Pumping.  Oh, lord I CANNOT WAIT until I don't have to pump any more.  Pumping is not my favorite.  I also eat lunch around this time.
• 1:15pm - Back to work.  Work. Work. Work.
• 3:00pm - Another pumping break.
• 5:15pm - Head off to pick up the boy from daycare.  He is so happy and smiley when he gets picked up from daycare.  We also pick up his daycare report card at that time so that we know what kind of day he had and what/when he ate.  Nowadays he is getting 3 6oz bottles at daycare and two rounds of solid food.
• 5:45pm - Get home from daycare.  William and I walk Beaux around the block and get a little fresh air.  If the boy's nails need cutting, we sit on the front porch so he can watch cars while I cut his tiny fingernails.  Distraction is KEY in the cutting of the nails.  If they don't, we may take this time to play a little or to read a book.  Michael usually gets home around 6:00 or 6:15 (but again that depends on the shift he is working).
• 6:30pm - dinnertime for W.  He usually eats 2 things (say, maybe sweet potatoes and apples with a little oatmeal mixed in).  He also drinks a little water out of his sippy cup.
• 6:45pm - Michael gives William his bath if he is around.  Bathtime is daddy's specialty.  He gets washed up and plays a bit and then gets "tubby tummy time" where he kicks and "swims" on his belly in the tub.  He LOVES this part and now can hardly sit still until he's out of his bath seat and able to move around a bit more.  I have a feeling the bath seat is soon to be history.
• 7:10pm - Last nursing feeding for W.  He almost always falls asleep during this session.  I lay him down and he wakes up a tiny bit, rolls onto his side, grabs his little fuzzy blankie (and sometimes takes his pacifier) and off to sleep he goes.  He's gotten a LOT easier to get to sleep...thank goodness.
• 7:30pm - I start cooking dinner.  Gotta make something quick so we don't end up eating at midnight.  If I'm lucky, I've started something (even just cutting/prep work) earlier in the day.
• 8:15pm - Dinnertime.  We usually catch up on some TV while we eat (a bad habit, I know, but it is a typical day).  After dinner we may catch up on emails, or sit on the porch and have a drink with the neighbors.
• 10:00pm - Another pumping session right before bed.
• 10:30pm - We get ready for bed.  After washing faces, brushing and flossing teeth, we head in to take a peek at William.  He's usually asleep on his left side and oh, so cute.
• 11:00pm - Bedtime

Can anyone spot what is missing from this routine? 
Yup, you got it.  Exercise.  And yup, another thing is missing.  Cleaning and organizing the house.

Gotta find a way to get those two things done. 

I know you can pay someone to clean your house.  Can you pay someone to exercise FOR YOU?  ;)