Toss & Catch

So Chris and Will had their first game of toss & catch...well it was more like roll, grab and sling the ball....but you get the idea. It started with Chris rolling the ball to Will - when he grabbed it and we cheered, he immediately started smiling and caught on to the fact that he had to have done something good that we liked.

After prying the ball from his fingers (it's soft so he can grab it pretty good) and rolling it back to Chris - he rolled it to Will again and AGAIN he grabbed it and immediately started giggling and laughing and clapping on the ball. This went on for easily 20 minutes...Will was just so proud of himself (and so were we!). We even had Will 'slinging' it back to Chris - we need to work on his aim but he got the idea!

It was fun to watch and I know Chris is excited for the days when this simple game of rolling and grabbing becomes a true game of toss & catch with gloves and a baseball...well a Nerf ball probably first! Stay tuned for updates on our future rookie ~

Not that Will is on the computer....

http://www.kideos.com/

Check out this site - AWESOME!

Since I know there are computers at his school... his "non-technology" days I know are numbered. I figured I might as well start a list of "kid friendly websites" that he can visit.

Chief Crawls-A-Lot

So last Friday Will was given his 'Indian name' of "Chief Crawls-A-Lot" by one of the infant teachers at his school and how true it is! He is a boy on a mission for sure! Before we used to watch to see how quick he flip from his back to his belly when you put him down - now we watch to see how quick and in what direction he starts to move. It's amazing how fast babies learn!

Friday was also a big day as he figured out how to climb in-to and out-of "the pit" as they call it at school. It's this soft plastic covered foam circle thingy - like the size of like a baby pool - when the teachers are busy with the other kids they would put Will in there because it would somewhat 'contain' him - not anymore. I was informed that not only did he manage to climb OUT but then he also managed to climb back IN. OH JOY! Babyproofing the house I think has been put off long enough...case in point...I just put plugs in all the electrical outlets...we have one right in the entranceway of our house where we play with Will...what did he do - went right for it on Saturday morning - he zeroed in on it and fingers (slobber covered and all) went right for the center - thankfully the plastic plug was there to stop him.

His other new favorite thing to do is pull up - on EVERYTHING he can get a firm hold on. He likes the laundry baskets because there are the holes on the sides but we have to watch because most of the things he likes to pull up on are not much bigger than him and he'll pull things over on himself. The Bumbo seat is a perfect example. He will get up on it - and if you are not holding it down - flip! Right over on him.





His two new favorite things to play with are the age old rainbow "donut" stacker rings and the shape box - you know - the thing that has the lid that has the shapes on it and the pieces fit through...I know I had to have had this as a child as they both have been around forever - it just goes to show that all the bells and whistles are not necessarily needed - kids go for the simple stuff....like his other favorite thing...tupperware lids - LOVES them! His new favorite game - dump out the box and dump off the rings...then let Daddy put them all back in and on. Will hasn't quite mastered the art of playing neatly....Chris on the other hand has mastered putting everything back once Hurricane Will comes through. As 'picked up' as we try to keep the house - Chris has renamed it "Will's World" which it appropriately and truly it is - between burp rags, baby blankets and toys of some kind - his presence is felt in every room.



We also tried putting him all the way down in the pack-n-play this weekend - we took out the "baby level" and sat him down in there - he loved it. After getting tired of sitting up - he layed down - propped his feet up and just lounged - it was great because he could crawl around and wasn't stuck in the swing or something stationary while Chris and I fixed dinner and did laundry.



Parting shot...my two boys snoozing yesterday...oh I love these shots...I know the days of him being this size are numbered and it makes me so sad...



P.S. We tried bringing the Red Sox luck by dressing Will from head to toe in his Red Sox attire..no luck :(

Little wolfpacker

The hat we picked up for Will at the football game (GO STATE!)...he stayed home and stayed dry with a sitter and had a BLAST!

Officially blessed

William is a gift. He has come to us with a clean slate. He knows no malice, no prejudice, no ill will. Neither, however, does he know of love, justice or compassion. We are given the awesome privilege and responsibility of journeying with him, of guiding him in his learning of life, of faith and of love. It is our prayer today that those gathered here might teach William of God’s love, God’s grace and God’s mercy as we live in community together.

Our little man has been blessed – officially. We had a christening over the weekend and were so excited to have all of his grandparents able to attend including one of his great grandmothers and his Uncle Josh (yes that is a Noah's ark cake behind the invite - another awesome creation of the Cupcake Envy).











Will did great and even with the ceremony being right at 10:00 when he is usually going down for a nap he kept his eyes open (droopy but open) and even managed to splash around in the water to keep himself occupied.

After a whirlwind Friday where I spent the day baking and getting everything ready, he and I headed to a baby shower for a dear friend who is actually due on Will’s birthday! He snoozed in the car ride over and waking up in a strange house and having a bunch of new faces around, he was a bit in shock the entire time – think deer in headlight eyes. We are entering the stage that when he gets confused or something just doesn’t seem quite right he scrunches up his face and just bursts into tears – he did it on Friday night when he was surprised by a grandmother and then again on Saturday when one of his grandfathers walked away when he was looking at him. It just breaks my heart – he cries these big huge tears….especially because he’s such a happy baby 99% of the time! I had been warned that this stage might be coming and I fear that we have entered it…and as everything else…I know this too shall pass…soon…hopefully!

Saturday morning we were blessed with sunshine and no rain! Will got to spend the morning playing with his great grandmother - thankfully this time he didn't give her a fat bruised lip!



We headed to Pullen Park for the ceremony. The man that married Chris and I performed it for us and it was short, sweet and meaningful. We asked our dear friend Mary Beth to be Will’s Godmother and we know he will love her as much as we do as he grows up.



After the ceremony we spent the rest of the day enjoying family time – Will was thoroughly entertained by all. The event allowed us to get some pictures...having all our parents together we realized the last time they were all in one place was our wedding, nine years ago. Will showed off his crawling skills and joined us at dinner for some giggled filled patty-cake games with Gram.

Oh so sleepy....

Last night Will could barely hold his eyes open to eat - he was so so tired - it was a riot! Here's a series of pictures I managed to snap - poor guy - didn't even have it in him to finish his dinner - he was so tired!

First...eyes being held open EXTRA WIDE fighting off the sleep...


One of the first head nods...


Eyes rolling back in his head -


Slowly tilting....


Out!


More out - if that is possible

Spots & Smiles

Whew! What a busy, busy couple of weeks! We ended last week by joining 20+ girls for dinner – Will got smiles from all of them – one of Chris’s good friends from college, Kat was in town with her soccer team. She’s a coach at UNLV and it was great to see her – it’s been probably 10 years since I’ve seen her …it was so much fun to introduce her to Will.



He did well eating dinner at the restaurant…not too much of a mess however, he was very preoccupied with all the girls! On Saturday we headed to Duke to watch the team play – they did great – held off for a 0-0 tie! Here’s Will – chillin’ at the game ~ and a picture of his teeth – he finally let me get one (see them on the bottom there?)!!!




Because it was sunny out at the game, we put on some sunscreen and by the time we left the game he had about 10 spots total on both legs – red spots…nothing too big…we thought that maybe he had a reaction to the sunscreen (which we had used before with no problem) or maybe just heat rash as both Chris and I were holding him and it got hot. We got home – gave him a bath and the spots sort of subsided. Sunday he had a few more – a few on his belly...Monday – the 20 spots went to about 20,000 and at that point we panicked. We took him to the urgent care and got the diagnosis – viral rash – oh joy! Here’s a picture we took AFTER the spots subsided a bit and were looking pretty good.



Thankfully we weren’t tied up there for too long but told that we might want to check with our pediatrician in the morning just to be safe. So Tuesday I took my first sick day for Will and we headed to the doctor bright and early – they agreed and sent me home saying that keeping him out of school for the day was probably a good idea but he was fine to go back on Wednesday. So…even though we had a nice three day weekend – little man and I got to spend an extra day together. Thankfully the rash had already subsided just a bit and it really didn’t bother him – he was just a bit fussier than normal when he got tired and hungry.

Other than the rash excitement we had a major nap breakthrough. Saturday morning Will was about falling asleep eating breakfast but held out to get a second wind – however, by 10 he had that “I don’t know how my eyelids are open” look so I said to Chris – “I’m going to try and put him down awake for a nap.” We had tried this for bed time with great success but never for a nap…I carried him upstairs, put him in his crib and quietly walked out. For about five minutes he fussed, talked to himself, flipped himself over, turned around in his crib and then….quiet. We looked at each other, I tip-toed upstairs and peaked in – OUT COLD. YEAH!!! So not only did the big guy do this on Saturday – we proved it wasn’t a fluke by the repeat performances on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. All days he was out cold from 10 until 12:30. On Wednesday when I brought him back to school I explained the new schedule and they tried it…Wednesday he went down and made it an hour, Thursday again, went down made it TWO HOURS! Yeah!! So now we just have to “format” his afternoon nap…I’m thinking that one might come along after we start feeding him a “solid lunch” – because although he’s always been a great sleeper naps have always been on his schedule – bedtime – that’s been on ours. Here's some shots from him sleeping - just so cute - his position of choice - not matter what, he ends up like this for all his naps....



This weekend we brought Will to his first NC State football game – he did GREAT! It was a bit warm and when we first went in – he was out cold in the carrier on my chest. I brought him out to the car at 6:30 to eat dinner and then we brought him back in – wide awake. He LOVED the jumbotron and was in complete amazement. He didn’t mind his “headphones” that I made him wear – considering he fell asleep with them I think we can safely say they block out the noise.




He definitely is feeling better – the old happy Will seems to be back – Friday night he had a complete giggle fest with Chris….it was a riot – thankfully he’s also happy sitting in his highchair again – for about a week he went ballistic every time we would sit him in it…not sure what that was all about but thankfully we have moved past that!



Had to post a picture of this - I got this shirt last year in Maine when I was pregnant - it finally fits - to cute huh? My mom saved a t-shirt of mine from when I was his size - it's from Hawaii - it fits him now - picture of below of him wearing it...I think this "Got Lobster" shirt might have to be one I save for his kids one day! Can't wait to introduce him to lobster...that should be interesting in a couple of years!



Lastly...we tried Baby-Yo yogurt last night...we both cracked up...we gave him a small spoonful - he kind of mashed it around in his mouth then - Chris and I both said NO WAY DID HE JUST DO THAT - he shrugged his shoulders as if to say "ah, it's ok" and opened his mouth for another bite! We just laughed...he really is our comic relief!

First teacher goodbyes

So....originally Will was going to be moving up a room this month...that was postponed, nothing to do with Will...the upper rooms got bottlenecked and it's just been put off a few weeks...when that was the plan I was sad that he would be leaving his current room with Ms Suzanne but I was ok with him moving on....however, I'm sad today because he's still in his same room but Ms Suzanne is leaving...we got this picture of Will with her today....his first teacher...he loves her....we'll miss you Suzanne!!

Starting a new season...

Conversation:

Abbie: Is State going to be good this year?

Chris: Yes

Abbie: You promise?

Chris: Yes - we should be good.

....for anyone who watched the game last night - painful is the only word to describe it....

...another way of describing it...it was more painful for me to watch the game than it was to leave Will with a babysitter for the first time....he definitely got the better end of the deal for sure...he was home playing, eating and sleeping.

...poor Erin Andrews...she picked an awful game to come back to work too....

New Schedule

As anyone who has had kids knows – time flies – this past week was no exception. Last weekend I went home on Friday from work with a bunch of errands that I wanted to get done and ended up not doing any of them – not because I didn’t have time (which I did) but just because I was too lazy to jump in the car and go out and do them. How bad is that?

Saturday we went to the Farmers Market and picked up some new things for me to steam and get ready for Will – green beans, pink-eye peas, summer squash and more zucchini (an item that the verdict is still out on whether or not Will really likes this one). Thus – for a couple of hours after we got home Will and I played in the kitchen – well, he played – practiced sitting all by himself and his version of a crawl - and I steamed and pureed which gave Chris some time to get some yard work done and enjoy the sunshine. We have been blessed that fall seems to have arrived already – the past few days in the morning we have actually had to put a sweat shirt on Will as the humidity has dropped and it’s nice and cool. Perfect timing as football season is kicking off tonight – yeah! Unfortunately Mr. Will is going to sit this game out…he’ll be home with his first babysitter – Miss Shelia (well Mrs. Shelia) and Patrick who we know will be more interested in the Wii than WILL but is there for moral support!

Tuesday afternoon Will had his 6 month doctors appointment – a couple weeks late but it’s all good – we want to see the same doctor at the practice he goes to for all his “major appointments” and this was the first appointment she had after his 6 month date – she is the one who figured out his reflux and really just has a great demeanor. He weighed in at 17 lbs 5 oz and measured out at 27 inches – 27 INCHES – he has grown 6 inches since he was born – AMAZING! He seems so long!!! As my mom said – an inch a month….wonder if he’ll keep that growth rate up??? His exam went great – as Dr Todd and I talked, Will managed to take the paper on the exam table and wrap it around his entire body, shred it, try to eat it and all-in-all had more fun than I could have ever imagined having with a piece of paper. He proudly displayed his love of bouncing and talking and laughing and DROOLING for the doctor who laughed as she said that he is clearly a very happy 6 month old! After all that fun…we got the shots. He was none too happy with the needle sticks but the tears dried quickly and he fell asleep as soon as we got in the car with the aid of a bottle and his beloved Red Sox book in hand. For dinner I humored him and gave him two of his favorites – sweet potatoes and pears and even went so far as to not make him wear a bib and gave him his own spoon – needless to say he made a mess but after taking a bath and letting him play with every bath toy he owns I think he had forgotten about the shots.

One of the biggest things that the doctor and I spoke about was his schedule…thankfully (knock on wood) he has been a great sleeper and eater…he eats six times a day and sleeps through the night….his 6th feeding for the past four months has been at 10:00 – we wake him up for that and he never really wakes up…he does his sleep eating but we still do this feeding and he eats very well at this time. The doctor told me to cut it out. Drop it from the schedule and when he hits seven months we can start doing a lunch feeding…thus his schedule changed from 6:30/8:30 breakfast/10:00/1:00/4:00/6:00 dinner/7:00/10:00 TO 6:30/8:30 breakfast/11:30/4:00/6:30 dinner and 7:30 – I tried it Tuesday night – Chris was out of town so I figured if Will pitched a fit it would only disturb one of us (mind you the doctor said not to call her if he woke up at 4:00 am ready to go!) …no worries needed – he not only fell asleep and was down by 8:00 but I had to wake him up at 6:15 to start the day…worrying that it was the shots still affecting him I though last night might be a challenge – NOPE – he did great again…so YEAH!!! our nights are now (knock on wood) quiet and clear from when we put him down till when we wake him up – he’s such a good baby!!!

Here's a shot from last weekend - Chris 'decorating' our child...



And then Will - doing a push up - it's never to early to start good physical fitness routines right? No, don't think we are making him do this - he gets in this position right before he tries to take off 'crawling' - he's really mastering it this week...this morning he tried to pull himself up on the laundry basket...we are taking stock of what cabinet hooks we need and are set to baby proof the house in the upcoming weeks!