Until we get our new camera...

...this will have to do. I've been asked for updated pictures of William, but all I have uploaded at the moment are these taken by his Aunt Modey!

Sweet Tater

It's nearly impossible for me to believe, but our Sweet Tater had his first "real" food tonight -- sweet potatoes! During a talk with Dr. Terry last week, we discussed Will's 90th percentile ranking in height and weight, and she said because we have such a big little man on our hands, we should go ahead with rice cereal on its own (not just in a sludgy bottle), then introduce a first food (preferably a veggie) by the time he reached his 5th month. Well on Saturday he took rice cereal so well -- swallowed nearly every bite! -- we decided to try the sweet potatoes tonight (a few days ahead of schedule). He grimaced at first, but literally after his second bite he became a baby bird and opened that little gullet for all the taties his Mama could scoop into him!

Yes, he's wearing his Saints jersey underneath the "Boys Are Just Better" bib.

Hasta la vista, sweet taties.

Hooray! Saints are winning and Will-Baby is full!

Will at 3 months

(Yes I realize I'm a month behind. I am determined to catch up; I can't keep everything straight in my head!)

This month marked many “graduations” for you, Puppy. (Oh yeah, Mommy calls you “Puppy” all the time now.) First of all, at the beginning of the month, you were still sleeping in your cradle in Mommy and Daddy’s room – if you can call it “sleeping.” Because you weren’t, really. And neither were Mommy and Daddy! One day, after getting up with you every 2 hours in the night, your sleep-deprived mother got pretty desperate and decided to institute some changes. Namely, I put fresh linens on your crib (in your room) and opened the baby monitor box and figured out how to use it. I also decided it was time to put some rice cereal in your night-time bottle. That night, you had a “ricey bottle” and a warm bath, then we put you in a comfy sleeper and read you some stories, then we laid you in your crib and tucked you in. Mommy prayed over you like I always do and turned on your “light show” (you have a projector mobile), then with you sucking contentedly on your paci, we snuck out and listened for any complaints on the monitor. There were NO complaints and you slept about 4 hours at a stretch that night – not as much as we wanted but a vast improvement! You seem to love sleeping in your nursery and you sleep better when we follow the whole routine, including the bath. We don’t do a bath every night, however, because I’m pretty sure that’s not good on tender baby skin!

You also developed something of a routine this month, too. Your bedtime is between 10 and 11 p.m. (don’t get used to that, kiddo), and you usually wake up between 2 and 3 a.m. Mommy also learned this month to only turn on a soft light in your room and nurse you in the glider, keeping you as much asleep as possible, and avoiding changing your diaper unless necessary. You adapted to this very well, and there have been several night-time feedings in which you didn’t even crack an eyelid. This has helped me so much, because I can put you back down in your crib, you squirm for a few seconds until you find a comfortable position, and then you’re back out like a light! Now, there have been some nights when you wake up when I lay you in your crib, and you seem offended that I’m not rocking you anymore. Well, it was hard, but I’ve learned to let you soothe yourself to sleep. You never get all that upset, and it just kills your Mommy as she listens to you on the monitor, but in a few minutes you’re back to sleep and Mommy is back to sleep that much faster, too. Then you’re usually back awake between 6 and 7 a.m., and Daddy pulls morning baby duty and feeds you a bottle, changes your diaper, then hands you off to me around 7:30 when he has to leave for work. I usually put you in your swing and we both doze until I have to get up to begin my workday. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, you’ll sleep from around 8 a.m. to 10:30 or 11 a.m.! That always signals a good day for me, because I can get some rest and then get my day started while you sleep in the sunshine streaming through the living room windows. It’s very peaceful!

We also had to take you in for an unscheduled doctor’s visit this month (you weren’t supposed to go back until 4 months). You had a very uncomfortable-looking diaper rash that didn’t clear up with Desitin, and you woke up one Sunday morning with goop coming out of your right eye. The goop would appear every time you blinked, and boy, did it ever make you mad! That next day we took you in to see the on-call doctor, who gave us a medicated cream for your rash and told us you had an infected, clogged tear duct. She said it was very normal and told us to massage your tear ducts during/after bath time, but we’ve never had to do this because your infection cleared up almost immediately and you haven’t had any problems since. While we were at the doctor’s, they weighed you in at 14 pounds, 8 ounces (they didn’t measure your length, for some reason?). Everyone at the doctor’s office always remarks on how “healthy” you are – you have some fantastic chubby cheeks and thighs, Puppy!

Mommy finally had to pack away all your newborn and 0-3 months clothes. I couldn’t help but be a tiny bit sad about it; you were such a sweet little infant and your clothes were so precious. But that’s okay, Mommy is so glad you’re growing like you should! You also graduated into size 2-3 diapers.

This month you also seemed to become much more aware of your surroundings, and you take great interest in people who talk to you (close to your face). You really began to recognize your Mommy and Daddy and you practically squeal with happiness when you see that Daddy is home from work. You talk ALL the time, and Mommy and Daddy have a running joke about how we should have expected this, seeing as we’re both English majors (communication is our THING!) and we fell in love over the phone (talking, talking, talking!). You also love to look around and your face shows that you’re super-alert and just taking it all in. When people meet you for the first time, they either remark on your hair (it’s so long and naturally spiky on top, although lightening up a bit from coal black to a soft brown) or your eyes (Daddy calls them “gun-metal blue”), or both. You’re just a beautiful baby and although Daddy and I would think this anyway, it’s always nice to hear compliments from other people. We’re just so proud of you, Will-Baby!!!

Finally, Daddy wanted me to also mention how much you LOVE watching football! Actually, it's quite true -- I think you see the images of the men in their brightly colored uniforms running around and it really piques your interest. Either that, or you're just a football prodigy and you're already taking in the game -- now wouldn't THAT make your Daddy happy??? You always get decked out in team gear with Daddy during a Saints game. They're undefeated so far and Daddy insists that you're the good-luck charm enabling this to happen!

Our little punkin'

On Halloween evening, Marty and I took our little punkin' and his Aunt Katie out to eat and then to go "trick-or-treating" at Barnes and Noble (our little version of it anyway, since Will can't eat candy, obviously). Mommy, Daddy, and Aunt Katie took turns picking out books and putting them into Will's bucket, and then the adults took turns pushing Will around in his stroller while we all browsed to our hearts' content (a family of nerds are we). Here's some pix of the cutest punkin' ever!

a great coupon

for all my friends with babies, or even with kiddos who are still wearing sizes that Babies-R-Us carries...

Here's a link to a coupon for 30% off your entire clothing and shoe purchase at Babies. Valid only until October 4th. I need some things for William, plus diapeys and wipeys and formula, oh my. I'm going to hie me hence to the store to use this, and I hope someone else can use it, too!

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/corp/092309_BRU_Apparel_em.pdf

Will at 2 months

My William, you are growing so fast it is making your Mommy's head spin. It seems like it was just a few days ago that we met:

I promise, those are happy tears! (I'm not one of those girls who are pretty when they cry!)

Could I have another tube or wire in my hand, please? I don't think I had enough there.

Then we took you home and started our family adventure. I love this picture, even though it's blurry. Look at that pink, precious baby!

Now at 2 months, my William, you:

• are 13 pounds, 5 ounces, and 23 1/4 inches long. That's between 75-90th percentile in weight (big boy!) and 50th percentile in height. You are a very healthy baby!
• are immunized against diptheria, tetanus & pertussis (DTAP), polio, and Hib (an influenza). You received Pentacel at your 8 weeks appointment, which is a combination vaccine -- only 1 shot! The doctors wanted to give you more immunizations, but your parents prefer to spread them out a bit, so we're going back in 2 weeks for the rest of your 2 months' vaccinations. The doctors weren't happy with Mommy and Daddy, but oh well. You're OUR child and we felt strongly against loading you up with too much vaccine, too early in your life. Anyway, you lived up to your name of Champion in taking that shot -- you made a complaint sound but you didn't even cry! Mommy was all prepared to nurse you for comfort but you didn't even need it. You felt better as soon as the nurse handed you back to Daddy, then you began looking around the room again with your usual curiosity! Daddy and I giggled in awe of our tough little dude.
• have quite the collection of nicknames. Mommy likes to call you Will-Baby, Doodle, Bubba, Bubby, and Little Dude. Daddy calls you Babies and Champ/Champy. We both call you Puppy and Punkin. Most of the time in conversation with other adults, though, we'll call you William or Will.
• are wearing some 3-6 months clothes, especially t-shirt onesies and sleepers. You are also wearing size 2 Pampers, although your parents are going to try to squeeze you into the remaining size 1's we have about the house, because we're frugal that way. Bad Mommy and Daddy.
• have the most startling blue-gray eyes:
• have a best friend. His name is "Paci." When we first brought you home, you were all about the Soothies, but once introduced to this particular pacifier, you won't take anything else now. In fact, you spit out every other type of pacifier as though they offend you! Mommy can't find a duplicate of Paci anywhere, so if Paci should be lost to us, Mommy and Daddy will be, quite simply, up a creek!!!
• have a pro for a Daddy. This is Mommy's new favorite picture (and yes, that's Paci in Daddy's mouth, being gripped by Paci's handle, of course):
• are a seasoned traveler. We took you to Lake Michigan at St. Joseph, where Nana and Pa-Pa always took Mommy and her sisters when they were growing up. This was a very special occasion for your Mommy, who used to walk along this beach and dream of one day having a little baby!
• have attended your first birthday party, your cousin Elijah's 3rd birthday (dinosaur-themed). You are fascinated by your cousins and fought sleep in order to keep watching them. You weren't too fond of the party hat that Mommy forced on you, though:
• have watched your first regular season NFL game with Daddy. This was a big deal for Daddy, who put you in your Saints jersey for the first time! (Don't tell Daddy, but I think you're secretly a bigger Colts fan.)
• have had your first non-milk food item -- pear juice! You've been going a long time in-between poopies (you'll hate me one day for telling other people this), so Dr. Terry recommended we give you some pear juice to encourage things along. You had 3 ounces of juice -- which you really liked -- and just a couple hours later, SUCCESS!
• are getting almost 5 hours of sleep at your longest stretch during the nights. I can't even tell you how pleased this makes Mommy!!! We're getting there, and pretty soon, you'll get 6-7 hours at a time and your parents will remember what it's like to get a full night's sleep.
• are "talking" all the time. You love to coo and gurgle at us, and when I get you out of your cradle in the mornings, you now break into a grin so wide you have to move your head to get out all that happiness. It absolutely melts your Mommy's heart that you're so happy to see me.

I love you, my Will-Baby!

Will at 1 month

At 1 month, my William, you are:

• 11.4 pounds and 22 inches long. At your 4 weeks appointment (which actually happened in your 5th week), Dr. Terry said that you are gaining weight "beautifully." I should say so -- you feel heavier to me every day! Dr. Terry (who is a lovely lady about Mama's age and who is expecting her own first baby) thinks you are the cutest thing ever. I asked her if she says that to all the moms and dads and she said "No -- I see lots of babies and I'm telling you, he is really cute!" In the few days leading up to the appointment, you'd been spitting up more than usual and I mentioned this to the doctor. She thinks that you have a mild case of reflux, but she wanted us to have your tummy checked out for something a little more serious, called "pyloric stenosis," which is a stomach muscle that is tightly constricted in some infants, and has to be fixed through a little surgery. Needless to say, Mama tried not to freak out when she heard this! You had an ultrasound on your tummy a couple days ago that revealed you are perfect in every way. You weren't thrilled to have your lunch delayed, nor did you like having the goo on your belly, but you were as patient as you could be, and you took the Pedialyte bottle(s) like the Champ you are! So now Mama and Daddy are giving you Zantac for the reflux, and even though we haven't seen much of an improvement yet, we are hoping this gives you some relief from the obvious tummy discomfort you experience after meals.
• in size 1 diapers. And they are Pampers, NOT Huggies! After using the "blankie-soft" Pampers, Huggies feel like rough paper to your Mama and Daddy and we can't bear putting them on your delicate skin.
• in size 0-3 months, and sometimes size 3 months clothes. Your Mama doesn't understand the 0-3 months thing, because there are a lot of brands that skip right from Newborn size to 3 months size, and there seems to be a big gap room-wise in-between. Mama is packing up your Newborn items and she's sad about it, because you're growing so fast!!!
• taking about 4 ounces of milk at a feeding. Sometimes you'll go for 5 and this makes your parents happy, because you sleep longer! But sometimes you only want 3 ounces or so, especially during the night.
• still sleeping only 1.5-2.5 hours at a time during the night. When we first brought you home from the hospital, you slept at least 3 hours at a time, so we know you are a good sleeper when your tummy isn't bothering you. Zantac, please work soon!!!
• starting to smile more and more. Your first "official" smile (ie, when we knew for sure you were smiling on purpose) was for your Nana, after she gave you a bath. You LOVE baths, which makes your Mama smile, because I love baths myself! You smile most often when you are content, which is when your belly is full and you're wearing a clean diaper and onesie and you're wrapped in a blanket and being rocked. Sometimes you sigh audibly and smile as you drift off to sleep, and it's so very precious.
• playing with your monkey mat, and you are very engaged for about 10-15 minutes at a time. You have a good strong grip and you like to hang on tightly to the rings once you get ahold of them. And you LOVE to look into mirrors and see the baby there; he makes you smile!
• more and more dear to your parents with each passing day. Mama went shopping the other night by herself, and only an hour into her trip, she realized she missed you terribly and couldn't wait to get home to hold you!