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.  :)

Daylight Savings

Daylight savings time SUCKS for moms and babies.

That is all.

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.

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.