38 Weeks

That's how old Will is today. Because of my pre-eclampsia, that was his gestational age at birth. He has been out of the womb as long as he was in it. These past 8+ months have gone by so fast. I have really done my best to enjoy Will at every stage of the game, but he is changing and growing so rapidly that sometimes it is difficult to take a breath and step back. He's such a little overachiever that he seems to grow by leaps and bounds daily. As Rolf said, it's been fun to watch the little lights come on as he reaches new developmental milestones, but this past month or so, it's like someone threw the generator switch and lit up the whole town. Since Christmas, Will has grown six teeth, started and mastered crawling, gotten more specific with his vocalizations (including a "muh-muh" every now and then), gotten the courage to shuffle along the coffee table as he holds on, learned how to set himself down gently, transitioned mostly from bottles to sippy and regular cups, and begun to eat "chewy" solid food. Whew! He's been a busy boy.

I suppose, when you think that it took us 56 months of actively trying (after 32 months of "if it happens, it happens"), 9 months isn't such a long time. That makes me feel a little better about how fast it all seems to be flying by. The joy Will has brought us in these last 16 months makes up for the years of despair we felt when we thought we'd never get to have him. Just looking at his sweet face, listening to his precious laugh, and feeling his little arms cling to me fills me with indescribable love and satisfaction. Parenthood is all I ever hoped (knew) it would be, and I am thankful every day I get to experience it with Rolf and Will.

Daily Dose of Cuteness - Friday

The final day in our installment - Rolf comes home tonight! Hooray!

Daily Dose of Cuteness - Thursday

Go Mean Green!

LA LA Land

San Diego is a pretty hip town. kinda like Austin on the beach. i dig it, and would readily come back here for a vacation. that being said, we just got back from a road trip up the I5 to los angeles, and i'm a little wonky. i truly had some strange experiences there. while trying to find graumann's theater we stumbled into a 'museum' on psychiatry...the subject matter merits discussion but the folks running the joint seemed to be mixing their own brand of kool-aid. we beat feet after about 15 minutes of a really slick audio program ( i swear it had the "in a world" movie trailer voice over guy). after a freaky windstorm, dodging a cnn satellite truck, and stumbling onto the set for the california democratic presidential debates, we made it to the theater. only to find out that the movie we bought tickets to wasn't in the super cool chinese theater you see in the movies. it was to the cinema six inside the upscale mall next door. major let down. after nearly breaking my ankle in alice's rabbit hole at the museum, i had no interest in five thousand dollar purses or the virgin megastore. kate blanchette was apparently in attendance at the chinese theater for the premier of her newest movie. i still have no idea what it was, but hey, i almost bumped into a star. i've uploaded the best thing i found in my visit to la and hollywood. those of you who know us will hopefully agree, it's not easy bein' green.

-Rolf

Super Monkey Cuteness

I love his monkey pj's!

Daily Dose of Cuteness - Wednesday

About to leave for school this morning. He looks so much older in this picture.

sunny san diego

aside from being fed on business dinners and corporate double speak, i get to see this every day at sundown. unspeakably beautiful. this alone is worth the trip. i just wish ghostie and will could join me. -rolf

Good Clean Fun

I promise, no nudity! :-)

Will loves baths.

Daily Dose of Cuteness - Tuesday

Pardon the snot-crusted nose and lip. He had JUST awakened.

Daily Dose of Cuteness - Monday

Since Rolf is in San Diego all week for training, Will and I have decided to take pictures to send to him every day he's gone. We'll post them here as well, so if we take any video, we can post it here for Rolf to see.

Last night when we returned from the airport at 9:45, a sleepy Will rubbed his eyes, looked around, and asked, "Da. Da do do do doo?" I know he was asking where Daddy was. Very cute. His eyes were open when Rolf kissed him goodbye, but I don't think he was really awake.

Anyway, here is the installment for day 1.


I know I'm biased, but damn, that's cute.

Spoon!

All references to The Tick aside, Will decided this morning that he was such a big boy that he could help Daddy feed him. The results were slightly messy, but adorable. He did a great job, though.

He just doesn't look like a little baby anymore. It's such a mixture of emotions to watch him grow up and become more independent. Part of me is so proud to see him try new things and watch his little gears turn as he tries to figure something out. The other part, deep down, is screaming, "NO! You're my baby! Slow down! You'll be in kindergarten before I blink twice!"

The best thing, though, is that he's started to give hugs. REAL hugs, not just snuggling his head in. I picked him up from daycare yesterday, and he put his arms on my shoulders, laid his head on my left shoulder, and squeezed. It was, as his Bear in the Big Blue House CD suggests, "better than the best."

My Little Snaggletooth

Check it out - you can see both of the top outside teeth, and the front one that broke through today. I guess he won't be a snaggletooth for long! Poor baby has an irritated face from his snotty nose and dried out paci at night (and sweet potatoes from an incomplete dinner), but that grin is super cute.

Such a Big Boy

Today, I was cleaning up the kitchen (it's nice to be able to get housework done in the middle of the week), and I decided to try a new position for Will's high chair. He's always trying to be involved in our dinner, so I thought I'd try taking the tray off his high chair, lower it (love the adjustable height feature!), and see what will thought of it. He loved it! I actually ended up lowering the chair one more level so I could push him up closer to the table. The CD player? So we can listen to They Might Be Giants, of course!

He sure isn't acting or looking sick today, but the glisten of snot beneath his nose and the heady stench emanating from his hindquarters tell a different story.

Ugh

Will recovered quickly from his febrile spike last Thursday. He was able to go to daycare (and stay the whole day) on Friday. I had to travel with the school's Academic Decathlon team to Frisco. The team did very well, especially considering we lost two of our highest scorers to other pursuits. For those of you who know (or care), we won Super Quiz (both relay and team scores), and came in an excruciatingly close second to South Grand Prairie. We only lost by 271 points, and when you're talking about scores over 37k, that's not a lot!

The fever seemed to precede a bit of a cold or sinus infection. Will got a little rattly over the weekend, and that has continued through today. Yesterday, he wasn't feeling well at daycare. He was fussy all day, and they said it seemed like his tummy was hurting (he was drawing his legs up as they rocked him).

Last night, after a long evening nap, Will started throwing up. At first, there was nothing in his tummy but drainage, so we thought that the post-nasal drip was upsetting his tummy (it usually does mine). After his bottle, however, it became apparent that was not all that was bothering my little man. I won't go into gory details here. Let's just say that two (for him and Rolf) and three (for me) sets of pajamas later, we were able to get him to keep down a couple of ounces of apple juice cut with water. He then promptly fell asleep. He woke up in the middle of the night starving, and kept down a bottle then. He has kept down his oatmeal and pears and some more formula this morning, but things are coming out the other end now. In the last hour and 20 minutes, we've had four incredibly nasty diapers. In between, he's playing and crawling and climbing, but if I pick him up, he cuddles into my shoulder and rests his head. He's not 100%, that's for sure, but it's much easier to deal with a nasty diaper every twenty minutes than it is cleaning up puke!

Poor Little Punkin'

I got a call today during my third period class saying that Will was running a 103.2 degree fever. I had an hour to go before the kids left (they were taking semester exams), so I called my dad. He came into my classroom to get the keys to my car so that he could get the car seat and pick Will up from daycare, but then he asked, "Would you rather handle this yourself?" Of course I would. So Dad kindly watched my third period (there are advantages to teaching at the same school) while I went and picked up my little man.

Will was exhibiting no signs of illness except lethargy and a reduced appetite (and that usual spark in his eyes was dulled). We came home, he fell asleep on me, and his temperature seemed to drop pretty dramatically. He was wearing a polarfleece top over his pirate onesie, so I couldn't take his temperature without disturbing him. Fortunately, he woke up, drank 8 oz. of formula (from a sippy cup, of course. Even when he's sick, he's a big boy), and kind of chilled out, resting his head on me. It's obvious his head doesn't feel good. He cried while I tried to change his diaper because I took off his 1/2 zip polarfleece top. He didn't want his head messed with. I don't blame him, poor boy. That's the last thing I want when I'm sick like that. I took his temp, and it had dropped to 100.2. He's asleep again, so we're going to wait this out. I haven't given him any acetaminophen or ibuprofen, and his temp is dropping, so I think he'll be okay. We'll watch it, of course, and if it skyrockets again, we'll take him in. For now, though, he needs rest and fluids more than anything.

My hope against hope is that this is teething-related. He is cutting at least 2 more teeth at the moment. I know that's probably not the case, since his temp was so high (they add a degree at the daycare, though), but one can hope.

Big Boy Food

Will decided this week that he was too big for baby food. He would cry with every bite of puree, so we decided to try him on small chunks of food supplemented with formula for dinner. He still ate his oatmeal this morning, but we put diced cooked apples in it. For lunch, we gave him 8 oz. formula in a sippy cup (he'll still drink out of a bottle, but we're going to try to wean him off them except for the rare middle-of-the-night emergency feed or if we're out and about and have no sippy cup) and diced apples and two cut-up chicken sticks. They looked like vienna sausage, but they didn't have the preservatives and sodium. He did really well. I think he actually ate probably 75% of the meat and 80% of the apples and drank 6 oz. of the formula without a fight.

He's getting so good at feeding himself (with his hands, at least).

He gets distracted by Brandon cooking his lunch at the end of this clip. The Daddy Show always trumps whatever meal he's eating.

I Have Toofies!

Check out Will's new chompers -

First, the two on the bottom (they're getting so big!)

Then, his little snaggletooth on the upper right

He's getting another tooth on the left, so he's going to have his fangs before he gets his top front teeth.

Back To Work

We're both back to the grindstone this week. Workworkwork. :P seems like a different world after the fantastic time we had these past few weeks.

Watching our little boy's first Christmas, seeing him crawl, and sprout teeth all in the little time we had together over the break was amazing.

He's mobile now! further babyproofing of the house will take place this week. He's part pogo stick i think. BOING BOING BOING

Will's teachers at daycare were very happy to see him return. Almost as happy as we were sad to see him go.

Will's Christmas - Finally!

I got the link to this cool scrapbook online from my friend Elizabeth

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

The Baby in Black

sigh...

Tomorrow, our holidays are officially over and it's back to the routine of work, commute, daycare, no time for each other.

It's been so nice being home as a family for nearly two weeks. Rolf worked his vacation/holidays so that he's really only had to work two days since I've been off of school. I'm not sure our heads are back into the swing of things just yet. We have to get more organized. It takes a lot more planning and pre-packing to get us all out of the door in the mornings when we're working than not.


Rolf and I figured that Will would have the best day of the three of us tomorrow. His teachers at daycare love him (who can blame them?) and have missed him these past two weeks.

What a difference a few days makes...

Rolf and I left Will with my dad on Wednesday as we headed to Vegas. By the time we returned on Friday evening, Will's bottom two teeth were halfway in (see picture below), his right top canine was almost in (it broke through yesterday), and he started to crawl - not just the ooching, either, real crawling!

He's also outgrown just about all clothes that say "6 mo" in them, even if they're 6-9 mo. He's just getting so big. Last night, though, when he was cuddled up on my shoulder after a bottle, I could see that tiny newborn we brought home nearly eight months ago buried deep within my big boy. Rolf lowered Will's crib mattress two notches tonight because we've responded to his cries twice in the past week to find Will standing in his bed. Kind of scary.

Will's New Teeth (and the usual accompanying drool)

Will standing in his new, lowered crib (the hydraulics will be installed next)

Here's a video of Will crawling:

He has also shown signs of "cruising," that is, holding onto the coffee table and shuffling his way along it. He's not even eight months old yet, but he's been trying to walk for a month now. One of his favorite things to do is walk around the room while holding onto someone's fingers, as seen in the picture below. He also loves to bounce and jump. We really considered getting him a jumperoo or a jolly jumper, but most of them have weight limits of 25 lbs. Considering Will was nearly 18 at his last doctor's appointment a month ago (and has grown considerably since then), we figured that wouldn't last long enough to be worth the money.

He gets so proud when he walks.

A Decade...

How is it possible? Today is Rolf's and my tenth wedding anniversary. I know we married young (21 and 22), but I just don't feel old enough for ten years to have passed. I suppose part of it is that I had no idea it would take nearly a decade before we had a baby, and somehow we lost two years of our lives miserable in McKinney (we never felt it was home) and six months living with my grandparents as my Granny went through chemotherapy, but time really has flown. We've been in our house for nearly four years, and I get my 5-year paperweight at the end of this school year. We can always remember how long we've been together overall because our first date was the Halloween after my nephew Aidan was born, so we just keep track of his age. He's twelve now. Dang.

To celebrate, Rolf and I are leaving the little man with my parents and flying to Vegas for two nights next week. We had originally planned on renewing our vows, but that costs nearly as much as a wedding, so we just decided to spend the money on a fancy night out. We don't need to renew our vows to affirm our continuing love. True, having a baby has changed our relationship, and we are both looking forward to time to reconnect and re-energize by spending time together, but there isn't any doubt that we're both in this for the long haul.

Will's First Christmas

I will post more about it later when I can get some pictures uploaded.

Suffice it to say, Will was spoiled rotten. Among the cooler of his gifts: a Johnny Cash onesie, a Trout Fishing in America CD, a Xylophone piano that he just LOVES, books, books, and more books (including the Leap Frog touch book), and a TON of cute clothes. This boy is going to be stylin'! I think because of the lead paint scare, most people were too afraid to buy him toys, and I don't blame them. We generally stuck to simple things like balls and CD's, although we did get him this activity table (we did NOT pay that much for it!), which Rolf loves because it plays jazzy music and Will loves because it lights up on his command.

No real crawling yet, although Will can hold himself up on a coffee table or chair for quite a long time before falling. He has started to shuffle himself along as he holds on for dear life. He gets frustrated that he can't go forward when he crawls (he generally pushes backwards) and looks around for something to pull up on or sits himself up instead.

All I Want for Christmas...

As of Saturday, December 22, 2007, Will has officially cut his first tooth! Huzzah! I could feel the difference in texture as he bit down on his spoon while eating yesterday, so after the cereal was all swallowed, I stuck my finger in there, and lo and behold, there was a rough little spot on his lower gum. Will doesn't like to show his lower gums - his tongue is usually over it - but this morning, I caught a glimpse of the tooth. It's really there and not something I just imagined. I am so excited. I was afraid the poor baby would never actually cut teeth. We have a feeling another 2 or 3 are just behind.

So maybe he'll just have one front tooth for Christmas, but hey, that's more than I was afraid he would have. If we can ever get a picture of it, I'll post it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

UPDATE: Rolf dug his finger in to Will's mouth after dinner tonight, and there ARE two teeth in there! Hooray! All we wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth, and we got it!

Family Pictures - Finally!

The last time Rolf and I had our pictures professionally made, it was December 27, 1997, at our wedding. Needless to say, we were long overdue. I always wanted to wait until we had a child to expand our family to get our pictures made again. Little did I know that would take as long as it did. We've had requests from family members for a family portrait, and since we only had ONE picture of the three of us together (that we took ourselves) where Will is not crying, we decided Saturday would be the day. Some of them didn't turn out too bad. Of course, the best ones are of Will alone.

The Fam

Will and Rolf

Will and Mommy

There's that impish smile again!

O Christmas Tree

Today we got to fulfill our task from last week: cutting down and putting up our Christmas tree. We tried to go last Sunday, but it was too cold and pouring rain. This morning, we rode out with my mom and dad to our traditional Christmas tree farm to find our yuletide pine for the year. Pickings were slim, since north Texas has been so dry the past few years. There were lots of great cedar trees, but Rolf is so allergic to cedar that was out (it's one of the few things that doesn't bother me, oddly enough). After much deliberation, we figured out that we had come back to the same tree three times. We figured that meant that tree must be the one for us. Rolf cut it down, and we met back up with Mom and Dad at the barn. Will had a good time. I took a couple of pictures of him as he was in the infant carrier, strapped to me, and Rolf took a couple of him investigating the tree on the hayride back to the barn.

After we decorated the tree, we put Will on the floor, and tried to get him to go from sitting to his hands and knees by putting his toy to the side of him. Damned if that little booger didn't start trying to pull himself to standing on the crates of Christmas stuff around him. Rolf may be right - he may skip crawling and go straight to walking.

Will riding with Mommy

Will inspecting the tree (it's prickly!)

Will and Grandma back at the barn

I'm such a good mom...

that I had to run across the house and get the camera before I helped him out of this situation:


Poor baby.

My Little Bookworm

My students would say that it's typical that an English teacher's kid would have a lot of books, and I take that as a compliment. Will now has so many books that we had to get him a couple of new shelves to accommodate them all. Here are a couple of pictures of Will helping Daddy put them together.

Will's First Thanksgiving

Last week went by in a blur. Since I was off school Wednesday through Friday, and it costs full price at daycare if they watch Will even one day, Will stayed with Grandad on Monday, and Rolf stayed home with him on Tuesday.

Will had a good time on Thanksgiving, although he really didn't want to nap at all. He's always afraid he's going to miss something cool if he goes to sleep when there are more people than just us around. After his vegetable turkey baby food, we tried a little table food on him. A small bite of mashed potatoes, a couple of peas, mashed, and a teeny tiny taste of chocolate pie. He seemed to like it all. Here he is, looking like a typical American after Thanksgiving dinner.




Friday, Rolf's dad and stepmom came in with his aunt and uncle. We hosted a secondary Thanksgiving dinner for them that evening. Saturday, we took them to North Park mall to see the toy train exhibit. Will was enthralled. I wish I had pictures of him watching those trains roll by. After lunch, we went to the big Half Price Books, where Will had his picture made with Santa. As soon as we get a printer that works, I'll get that scanned in and posted, either here or in the picasa album (see link on the right). Then we visited Central Market, where Will had massive (wet) diaper leakage. Fortunately, we were in the company of doting grandparents and a great aunt and uncle who spoiled our boy by buying him clothes when we were at Macy's. I rushed Will to the car through the cold rain, opened the back of the Vibe, and changed him as quickly as I could in the parking lot. That evening, it was once again difficult to get Will to sleep. Rather, I should say it was hard to get him to STAY asleep. He was tired enough to drop off multiple times, but he was so afraid of missing the party that he'd wake up after about 5 minutes. Finally, after the relatives headed off to their hotel, we were able to get him to stay asleep.

Sunday, Rolf's relatives concluded their all-too-brief visit, and Will took a long nap. We were going to go cut down our Christmas tree with my parents (a tradition), but the cold rain started up again. It was fortunate that the weather didn't cooperate, however, because Will had a bad afternoon. He was inconsolable. I'm sure it was the combination of being the center of attention for three days, his teeth hurting him (they STILL haven't broken through, poor baby), and his schedule being out of whack for nearly a week. He screamed himself to sleep on the way home from my parents', and slept for over two hours. He woke up in a MUCH better mood. Getting back on schedule was the best thing for him. He had a great day at daycare, even though he didn't nap much, he ate a good dinner, and he is now taking his evening nap (which he approached without getting fussy).

Hooray!

Will has decided carrots are okay again. We went to Rolf's stepdad's for dinner on Sunday, and we were served a fantastic stew. I took a carrot, a potato, and some peas out of my bowl and mashed them up with my spoon. Will ate it all up. This inspired me to try out the last tub of carrot baby food we have in the pantry. What a difference a couple of months makes! He made a little face when he first tasted the carrots, like, "what are you feeding me now, woman?" But soon, he was eating them up. Hooray! Tonight he finished them off and even ate some green beans. He wasn't as sure about the green beans as the carrots, but I can't blame him. Have you ever had just plain green beans with no seasoning whatsoever? Bleah.

Here's Will with carrots on his face, much happier than in the earlier video with carrots.

6 Months Old!

Where on earth has the time gone? My baby, my tiny little man, is already six months old, and it's time for Thanksgiving again. I was thinking the other day about our time in the hospital. He was such a little guy, weighing less than 7 lbs. at birth. He was less than 20" long, and his little body had almost no fat on it. Now, he's a big, healthy boy.

At his appointment today, he was 27" long (50th percentile), 17 lbs, 2 oz. (50th percentile), and his head measured 17 1/2" (also 50th percentile, but the measuring tape slipped as he squirmed, so I don't know if that's accurate). He is eating more types of solid food, he's trying to drink out of a cup, and he's started in on the teething biscuits. Just look at the changes over the last six months. The first is the day we brought him home from the hospital, and the second was taken this week, his requisite "naked in the bathtub" pictures...

His vocalization is getting more and more specific, although he still speaks in Sim ("dag dag"). I'm still waiting for the day he comes out with "Mama." I've been waiting to hear that for over five years. For now, my heart is full when he snuggles into my shoulder or when he sees me enter the room at daycare and shoots me that fantastic grin.

Here's a video of the little guy laughing at his daddy. He's just such a happy little boy:

Food Fun

Will kept showing intense interest in the bowls I was feeding him from, so I told him that one afternoon, he could play with his food. Here are the results - a big mess, but a ton of fun! Will really enjoyed feeling the different textures of the peas/oatmeal combination and the banana/blackberry/blueberry fruit mixture.

My Lil' Punkin'

Will celebrated his first Halloween in style. He went as a Jack o' Lantern. Not very original, I know, but those costumes that people stick their infants in seem so restrictive. I think it would be cruel to put my baby, who is beginning to try to crawl, in a costume that doesn't separate his feet. Plus, we wouldn't have been able to take him to visit grandparents in costume, which is how we spent our Halloween. He was the star of the show, that's for sure.

Sittin' on Top of the World

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Will can sit on his own. We were able to get him to sit up, unsupported, on our bed for about ten seconds last week, but tonight, we must have spent a good thirty plus minutes with the little man on the floor. He fell over a few times, bopping his head on the rug, which really scared more than hurt him, but he stayed upright on his own for most of that time. It's so exciting to see him make these strides. Before we know it, he'll be crawling all over the place. We'd better get crackin' on the baby-proofing!

The video below was after he'd fallen over a couple of times in quick succession; he's a little perturbed at this point.

Woohoo!

Sweet potatoes are a go again! Woohoo!

This kid is eating like a horse. This morning, for example, he ate a bowl of oatmeal mixed with formula, 1/2 a tub of applesauce, and he STILL wanted a 4 oz. bottle. Then he ate less than 3 hours later at daycare. Last night, he ate a bowl of oatmeal, 1/2 tub of peas, 1/2 tub of pears, and a small bottle. Then four hours later, he ate a 6 oz. bottle. The kid is no chunk. My friend's baby, who is just now 9 weeks old, weighs just about a pound or so less than Will, and Will turned 5 months on Sunday. Their birth weights were only about 1/2 lb. apart, too, so it's not like Jack started out at 10 lbs. He just caught up quickly. And he's exclusively breastfed!

As for us, we booked our 10th anniversary trip to Las Vegas. We purchased Terra Passes to help counteract the huge carbon impact of flight. What a great idea those are! I'm considering getting one to counteract our house's carbon footprint for the year. If we don't take care of our environment now, what kind of world will my child (and his children) inherit?

Here's Will modeling his "Born to Read" bib I got from the American Library Association's website.

This is one cute baby!

Feed Me, Seymour!

Will has really glommed on to the whole eating solids experience. He has now tried the following:

Sweet potatoes (cause diaper blow-out, discontinued for now)
Carrots (see post below on reaction)
Squash (likes okay, but not as much as sweet potatoes)
Applesauce (we think he likes it; he licks a lot when he eats it)
Bananas (see note on applesauce)
Peaches (likes pretty well, but best mixed in with his cereal)
Peas (liked them TONS the first two days but now, not so much)

Plus, he's getting much better at helping me feed him. Check out this video




Of course, he may just be really good at finding things to chew on now.

Speaking of chewing, Will's first teeth are on their way. Yes, I said TEETH. He seems to be cutting at least three at once. And the thing is, they aren't his front teeth. The most prominent one is his left canine. I guess he wants to be a vampire for Halloween. And then he wants to be able to wish for his two front teeth for Christmas.

At least his teeth let him sleep mostly through the night now. We're only up once a night with him. Last week, when his gums really hurt, it was almost once an hour.

A Weekend of First Experiences

This weekend, we went to First Monday in Canton with my parents, my nephews, and my sister and BIL. This was Will's first time out there (except when we went this time last year and I was 5 weeks pregnant). It was hot and VERY crowded, but Will did great! He hardly fussed at all, and he even napped a little bit in his stroller. I think I was crankier than Will was.

Today, when we went to Target, we used our shopping cart cover for the first time and had Will sit up in the seat. He did fine, since he was strapped in by both the shopping cart's tether and the cover's seat belt. I think he liked being able to be up and see more than just the fluorescent lights going by. He got a little fussy, but that was because he was tired. Once I got him out of the seat, he fell asleep in my arms. We were able to lay him down sideways in the cart seat so he could nap (and I could rest my back).

Will has slept through the night since he was about 8 weeks old, but this past week he started a new trend. He wakes up several times in the night fussing. Rolf usually stumbles into his room, tucks his paci back in his mouth, and that works for about an hour or so. We believe that we have discovered the reason: Will is cutting a tooth. We armed ourselves with Baby Orajel today to see if that helps him any.

Also, as you can see above, Will has started to hold his bottle to feed himself. He doesn't have tons of coordination or strength yet, so it's easier for him once he's about halfway through, but he really likes to hold it when he can.

On my front, I have had a sore throat for a week and a half now. I got a shot for strep throat (yuck!) last Thursday, which took care of my feeling like a semi ran me down, but my sore throat has persisted. If it is still sore tomorrow (and I'm sure it will be), I'll be heading back to the doctor to try to kick it once and for all. I've been tearing up my stomach (and my liver) by living on ibuprofen and acetaminophen for the last 10 days. This means that for the last 6 weeks or so, someone in the house has not felt up to par. We're ready for that to end. Fortunately, Will seemed to escape the strep monster. So has Rolf. It was flying all around my school, and as susceptible as I am to the disease, it was inevitable that I get it. Grrr...

Women's World Cup

Slightly off topic, but...

I wish ESPN would re-broadcast the games at a more suitable time! They start at 7 AM here (some at 5 AM!), so we can usually watch about 15 minutes before we have to head out the door. Fortunately, the quarter final game between the US and England is on Saturday, and I know we'll be up at 7 because Will usually gets up at around 6.

The major negative - Will is fascinated by the television. I don't want him to watch it at all until he is two, but I swear the kid can turn his neck 270 degrees to catch a glimpse of the boob tube. I suppose I should be grateful that the major thing he watches is soccer. Honestly? I think he has a crush on Abby Wambach.

4 Month Checkup

Good grief, how is he already four months old?

Stats:
Length - 24.75" (around 50th percentile)
Weight - 14 lbs., 9.5 oz. (around 50th percentile)
Head - 17.5" (around 90th percentile)

I promise you, he is not a lollipop kid! He just has his daddy's huge noggin. Seriously, the older Will gets, the more he looks like Rolf.

The doctor said he had gotten over his ear infections beautifully, and that we were fine to start him on cereal. I admitted we already had because he was screaming every two hours for food. I didn't tell her that we had already been through nearly two boxes of rice cereal and had graduated to oatmeal and rice with bananas. We even tried sweet potatoes last week. He had a couple of blow-outs after that, but we don't know if it was the end of the amoxicillin or the sweet potatoes that caused that. We suspended the sweet potatoes, just in case. We are trying carrots this week. Will doesn't seem to like carrots too much. He will eat a few spoonfuls, but then he looks like he's nearly gagging trying to swallow them, so we'll stop for the night. They say to try new foods for 4-5 nights before giving up on it so the little tykes can get used to the taste. Will may end up like his mommy, though, and dislike cooked carrots. We'll see. I'm very conscientious about keeping my face happy or neutral so he doesn't get any bad vibes toward the carrots from me.

It's really fun to find new things to feed him. We'll try sweet potatoes or squash next week. Our doctor told us to start with the yellow veggies, then head to the green and THEN to fruits. My mom says there's nothing worse than green bean baby food. We may stick with peas, if that's the case. Who knows? My child may be strange enough to eschew carrots but love green beans. We'll see.

Say Cheese!

We took Will in to get his picture made professionally today. He did a great job. He didn't spit up on his shirt, and he didn't get fussy until the very last pose. We ordered some huge number of prints, and we got the CD, which gives us the right to copy and print any others we want. Fortunately, Rolf just installed a really nice version of PhotoShop, so we are really having fun playing with the pictures. Here are a couple of examples of the studio shots. I would have preferred fewer kitchy shots and more plain background (there are some of him surrounded by feathers, for godssake!), but the photographer did capture some cute faces.

Channeling Carol Burnett

Will took his cold to the next level over Labor Day weekend. By Monday, he started tugging at his right ear, so we knew that we'd need to take him in. Rolf stayed home with him on Tuesday and took him to the pedi. He weighs 13 1/2 lbs. now, so he's still a little on the small side for his age group. I wonder how small he'd be if we hadn't started him on cereal! But I digress...

Will is now about halfway through his prescription for amoxicillin - the bubble-gum pink stuff I took over and over again as a child to get me through my yearly bouts with strep throat. As soon as Rolf opened the bottle on Tuesday night, I had major flashbacks of being forced to swallow that stuff. Ugh. Fortunately, Will takes it like a champ. We just stick the syringe up in his mouth like it's a bottle, and he sucks happily on it until the entire dose is in his mouth.

The congestion is clearing up: his cough is much looser, and the gunk in his nose much thinner and clearer. He still seems to be rubbing at his ear, which troubles me a bit. I hope this Rx will get rid of this stuff once and for all. I hate to see my sweet boy in pain. The funny thing is, except when his ear hurts or his tummy gets upset from the medication, he is still happy little Will with the smile that makes your day. He's such a good-natured baby.

Poor Little Man

The "snot goblins" Rolf referred to in his earlier post seem to have exploded into a full-blown cold. Will's face is all puffy, his eyes are red, and he constantly rattles while breathing. He hasn't learned how to blow his nose, so the bulb syringe has become both his best friend and his worst enemy.

We are hoping that this is really just a sinus infection that will go away in a day or so. Poor little guy seems so miserable. All we can really do is bathe him in the Johnson's soothing bath for colds (has rosemary, eucalyptus, and menthol), and keep using the plug-in menthol vapor pads. He's too young for cold or allergy meds.

I know if he inherited my sinuses that this is just the first of many colds. I wish I could take it all from him.

Through it all, though, Will has kept his sense of humor and that sparkle in his demeanor. The lady at daycare said he laughed out loud on Friday, and he was grinning away at us this morning through his red and bleary eyes.