Big Step

No, William isn't walking yet, but he did "step" to a different sort of milestone: earlier this week he spent the Whole.Night at my parent's house. One of the weddings we have coming up is going to require that we leave William with my parents for the weekend, so we wanted to do a trial-run for the sake of everyone involved. For William, we wanted him to experience having someone else put him to bed, as well as sleeping overnight somewhere other than his crib (he's slept in my parent's pack and play before, but not for quite a few months. And only when we're traveling, so Darrell and I are usually sleeping in the same room). For my parents, we wanted them to get some exposure to William's overnight tendencies since he still isn't exactly the best sleeper. As an added bonus, Darrell and I got a full night's sleep out of the deal!

While everything went really well and it certainly makes us feel better about leaving William, I know we still won't be completely ready when the time comes. And I know we'll probably want to compulsively call and FaceTime and check in to see how things are going. Unfortunately, Thankfully, we're going out to the wedding with another couple, so we'll have to keep our phone calls home to a minimum so we're not constantly annoying our friends. That might not stop us from playing an excessive amount of William videos on our phones though... But that's not quite as bad, right?

Successful Day

A sure sign of a successful day?

Blankets and burp cloths pulled out of their drawers...

Toys flung off their shelf (and left in as many pieces as possible)...

Books scattered around the bookcase (and although you can't see it from this picture, scattered around the house)...

And a perfectly sweet and innocent looking little boy, showcasing his most recent bit of destruction: knocking over the recycling container (thankfully it was mostly empty, although he still managed to find some paper to dig out of it)

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go do some cleaning....

William: Nine Months!

Well, I'm not exactly punctual on this post, but I'm getting it up before William turns ten months, so that counts for something, right? I'd like to use the excuse that I've been putting off posting this because I don't want to admit that William is going to be double-digits next month, but really, I've just been too lazy busy to want to sit down and type out a recap of last month. Plus Darrell has been slow on getting the photos edited (it's been a while since I've used that excuse, right?). Anyway, without further excuses, here's our little buddy at nine months!

Highlights from the past month:

--He weighed in at seventeen pounds, eleven ounces at his well-baby visit. We were a little surprised by that (only up a pound and an ounce from six months) because this kid can EAT, but our doctor isn't concerned, so we aren't concerned (all I can say is that he must have a crazy ridiculous metabolism--he's going to eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager if this keeps up). He's up to 27.5 inches, which is still a little on the short side, but he comes by that honestly.

--As I mentioned, William can put away some serious food. And he's pretty non-discriminate. I think we've gone through just about every fresh fruit and vegetable that you can buy in South Dakota during the dead of winter; new foods this month include broccoli, spinach, cantaloupe, and pineapple (although the pineapple may have caused a little diarrhea/vomiting episode, so we haven't gone back to it since).

--Adding to his inability to put on weight is the fact that he has gotten incredibly mobile. Over Christmas he started getting up on his hands and knees to crawl, and pretty well had it mastered within a week. Of course, given the option, he'd still rather hold on to your fingers and walk. He also loves to pull himself up on stuff and attempt to climb--we discovered somewhat unintentionally that given the opportunity he will easily climb up a staircase.

--William now has two teeth, the bottom middle ones. Cutting them wasn't awful.... But it wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. Let's just say that it wasn't a mystery they were coming in and leave it at that.

--Despite being way behind "average" in his communication for a nine month old, William has definitely been improving. In addition to some normal babbling, he also likes to coo like a dove and roll his "R"s (and yes, I know he isn't actually rolling his r's, but that's what it sounds like. So that's what we're going with).

--Lastly, it seems that William is not having any issues with his eyesight. The smaller the crumb, the more likely he is to try to get it. We've seriously watched him crawl past larger crumbs to go after the smallest one. My biggest issue with this? I have to be ridiculously meticulous about what is on our floors. Because once he gets his hands on something, it goes straight into his mouth. And the smaller the object, the harder it is to fish out of his mouth.

And now, a picture story showcasing William's personality:

This picture-taking business isn't so bad. Especially when I have my toes to keep me company.

Okay, I think I'm ready to be done. I see you making those goofy faces and I'm really trying to laugh and smile, but all I really want to do is get off this chair and get away from this bear.

Ooh, wait, a bear? He might be interesting for a little bit. I wonder what he'll do if I poke him in the eye?

Okay, for real, I'm done now, get me out of here or I jump!!

New Toy (Version 2.0)

So last time I posted about a new toy, it was because Darrell bought me this gem:

Well, my friends, the stakes have been raised. Thanks to an unexpected Christmas "bonus", I am blogging to you tonight from this beauty:

That, my dear friends, is our brand new iPad Air. Ain't she pretty? Per my insistence request, we got a case that has a keyboard--which makes it way more blogger-friendly--but it folds down in such a manner that allows it to retain all tablet functionality. I may be just a little bit in love. And hopefully I'll be able to do a much better job of posting regularly--and more punctually--because now I won't have to be transferring all of the photos from my iPhone to our Dell laptop, which was an incredibly tedious task and would frequently deter me from posting. I shouldn't make too many promises, though--I do still have an incredibly active nine-month old that consumes the majority of my free time. But I can always hope.

Christmas Jars

This is going to be a short and sweet book review. Not only do I feel goofy writing about Christmas at the end of January, but this book also did not stimulate very much conversation at our book club meeting--in fact, it was only mentioned in the final few minutes as we were all leaving (and it wasn't for lack of time; we hung out for well over two hours! We just found plenty of other things to talk about and the book didn't exactly leave us dying to talk about it).

That being said, it is still a good book and definitely worth the (quick!) read. The biggest issue we had with the book, though, was that it seemed the author took a great idea--a Christmas Jar--and built a story around that (A Christmas Jar is a jar of money--loose change--that is collected over the course of the year and then gifted to someone in need). At times, the narrative seamed far-fetched or stretched to keep the novel from getting too long and thereby distracting from the concept of the Christmas Jar. And truthfully, I don't exactly fault the author for doing that--I think the world would be a much better place if every family implemented some version of a Christmas Jar--but just know that the book seems to be more about the idea than the story at times.

One serious pro about the novel being on the short side and not overly bogged down by "extra" narrative details (since I feel bad about possibly sounding a little judgmental in the previous paragraph)? It would make a great Christmastime read for a family with teenagers/pre-teens. Easy enough to read a few chapters a night, and a great way to foster a discussion about reaching out to those less fortunate. And now that I've written that out, I'm seriously considering buying the book so I can do that as William (and potential future kids) get older. Definitely sounds like a great family tradition--and truthfully, it would probably make a good tradition for any person or type of family. There's nothing like a quick, heart-warming read to keep you in the spirit of the season.

The Year of... Weddings?!?

Waaaay back in April of 2012, I posted about how our lives were progressing into their next "cycle". While we were still having a handful of weddings to attend each summer, the number of people who we knew that were pregnant was far surpassing the number of people we knew who were getting married. And that trend continued full-force into 2013, which I dubbed "The Year of the Baby", thanks to not just our own pregnancy but the pregnancies of (at the time) six close friends (and Will and Princess Kate, of course). And after I made that post I learned of one other close friend due with a baby at the end of 2013, and two friends with babies making their arrivals in early 2014. So imagine our surprise when, quite without warning, 2014 turned into "The Year of Weddings". It started innocently enough: a close college friend got engaged in late 2012 and planned a February 2014 wedding. A high school friend set her date for April 2014, just over a year after she got engaged. My brother and Macy got engaged right before William was born and booked their venue for August 2014. And then in the summer of 2013, the proposals started spreading like wildfire. There were two additional college friends who picked dates in August (thankfully, neither are the same weekend as my brother's) and a third college friend who set her date in May. My cousin got engaged and jumped at a rare opening at the venue she wanted in June 2014. A close high school friend got engaged in September, and planned a quick turnaround with an early January 2014 wedding (which, sadly, we had to miss at the last minute due to weather. I'm still incredibly bummed). And then one of my nearest and dearest friends got engaged over the holidays, and is (tentatively) getting married the day after my brother.

Now, don't get me wrong, I couldn't be more thrilled with all of this. I loooove weddings. The only reason I'm even ever-so-slightly bummed is that these friends are pretty much the last of our friends to get married, and they are all cramming themselves into the same year instead of giving me weddings to look forward over the next couple of years. Plus, nine weddings in one year gets EXPENSIVE. And I'm not just talking about gifts. Our weddings are spread out throughout the Midwest, with events in Minneapolis, Chicago, Madison (WI), and Omaha, just to name a few. We're going to log some serious miles on our car in the next nine months. And I couldn't be more excited.

In.Love

So for about two months now, I've been dragging my heels on getting William involved in a Kindermusik class. I'd looked into the classes online, talked to friends who had gone with their children, but was still being trigger shy. And not even because the classes are terribly expensive--no, I just have a somewhat irrational fear of trying new things. Would I know where to go? What to do? What will the other people there be like? Will I look weird and out of place? (And if you are thinking that doesn't sound terribly irrational, wait until I tell you that this fear extends to even something like trying a new restaurant--especially an ethnic one. But as long as I can admit it then it's not a problem, right?) But a few weeks ago I mentioned the classes to a friend of mine as we were brainstorming activities to do to get out of the house with our boys (she has a son a few weeks younger than William that she stays home with as well), and wouldn't you know, she sends me a text a few days later saying she'd signed up for the classes and was looking forward to them. So, it was time for me to finally put on my big girl panties and do the same--plus it wasn't quite as nerve-wracking knowing that there'd be at least one familiar face there (which is the same way I survive pretty much all of my irrational fears of doing new things--thank God for Darrell and his ability to look like a pro doing just about anything).

And you know what? I didn't know where to go (but wouldn't you know, there was a receptionist who very kindly directed me to the classroom). I didn't know what to do (but neither did any of the other people who had never been to a Kindermusik class before). I maybe did look weird and out of place (apparently I don't have the "Mom" look down yet--yoga pants and workout shirts were much more prevalent than jeggings with a cute cardigan). But it was all so totally worth it. The class was great, the instructor was fun and light-hearted, and the other parents/kids were friendly and laid-back. From a music standpoint I don't know how much William will get out of it (although we may learn quickly if he got his music genes from his mom or dad), but I'm really excited about the social aspect of the class. Granted, we'll have to work on not stealing pacifiers from other kids and he'll need to learn that he doesn't have to play with the toys the other kids are playing with when there is a whole bucket of them, but those things will come. And I'm looking forward to watching him learn them.

Santa Visits! (Christmas 2013 Part Two)

Since we were in Georgia for Christmas this year and had to deal with traveling presents (and since William didn't have a clue what was going on), Santa decided to go really simple for William's first Christmas. All he brought was William's Christmas stocking stuffed with a few small gifts. Sweet and simple. But don't worry--we took more than enough pictures to make up for the small quantity of gifts.

Santa left William's stocking right by his crib

Showing off his little elf diaper :)

Cute little buckle on the front of the diaper

Digging in to his stocking

Yes! Just what I wanted!

Strings are super tasty



There's more you say? Oh, just an ornament? Boring.

Obligatory family photo. William was unimpressed

Christmas 2013 (Part One)

Yes, recapping Christmas is going to take multiple posts. And yes, there are going to be lots of pictures. But I'll keep the yapping to a minimum and let the pictures do most of the talking (you're welcome).

We spent a week in Georgia over Christmas, and it was wonderful to see so much of Darrell's family--and many of them got to meet William for the first time, which is always fun (and really--even for those who had met William--it had been nearly six months, so he was a totally different person anyway).

Highlights include:

Getting another four-generation picture

Getting re-acquainted with his cousin Dayton (aka stealing his pacifier) and vice versa

Rediscovering the deliciousness that is Yuengling

Trampoline fun

More fun times (and pacifier-stealing) with cousin Dayton

Fun times trying to get all four cousins to pose for a picture

 

 





 

 

And of course, lots and lots of fun opening presents (aka eating wrapping paper, ribbons, and the presents themselves)

 

 

Still to come: William's gets his first gifts (and stocking!) from Santa and Christmas with my family

 

December Randoms

Yes, I know, I still haven't posted any Christmas pictures. And there aren't going to be any in this bunch, because let's face it, those are going to need their own post. Possibly even multiple posts. But until then, here's some of the shenanigans William's been up to lately.

Proud of himself for finding more ways to get into trouble

Proving that anything--even his car seat--can be a toy. Although he was a little less than pleased when it fell over on him

Fun in the bath!

I know it's a little dark, but first thing one morning William decided to pull all the books off the shelves in his room. He now thinks this is a spectacularly fun game.

The more toys, the merrier

Not exactly how the toy was meant to be played with, but I suppose it works

Pretty much the most awkward nap position ever

More fun things to pull up on! 

All bundled up and headed out to celebrate my grandpa's birthday!

Not the best picture, but you can see his two little bottom teeth poking through!