Hooray! Vacation!

We had quite the week this week, counting down the moments to v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n!!!! In the meantime...We were momentarily back in our normal work/school routine for Monday/Tuesday. On Wednesday I did my daily check-in later than usual, and found out that Mr. Crankypants was having a rough day. Slept a little, was downright refusing food, and didn't want to do anything, except yell. So Dave went and got him a little early and we all tried to go to bed a little early. Except...Will tugged on his ear a couple of times...and then did it again in the morning....so off to walk-in hours at the pediatrician on Thursday morning! It turned out to be a very quick trip - Will weighed in at 17lb 1oz - almost a half pound heavier in 10 days! Ear is fine. But the teeth...after all of our wondering - is he EVER going to pop those first teeth?? I can feel 1, and there is a good possibility that we're going to see 4 before this little episode is over. Yes, 4. I would be Mr. Crankypants too if I was working on 4 teeth at the same time!

So now...we're on vacation. Well at least I am, and Will is. Dave has to finish out today and then he's on vacation too...we are really looking forward to a nice relaxing week...

Allow me to clarify...

Will isn't crawling - yet. Emphasis on the yet. I am sitting on the floor of our living room watching him play. He started next to me (in 1 corner of our living room rug). He proceeded to roll/push himself on his belly with his feet in a large oval all the way around to the toy basket that is actually next to me on the other side. Guess he decided to take the long route...I'm in the process of baby-proofing. Doing everything that I can before I have to make a trip to buy all the safety gear (baby gates, more outlet covers, locks for cabinets, etc.). It is amazing to watch the "getting mobile" process unfold. With it have come a couple of interesting tactics and issues...
1. Some babies use their arms - not a huge surprise, but Will uses his legs. I will find a way to capture this stage - toes digging into the floor, legs pushing up and his chest & belly firmly planted on the floor. If he didn't have a shirt on, he'd get rug burn on his chest as he pushes himself across the carpet! Even if he's rolled onto his back to enjoy the latest prize he's managed to reach, the legs are still kicking away.
2. He uses the "edges" - whatever it is that confines his space - the sofa, a chair, a table leg, he'll use them as leverage to push himself along.
3. Rolling IS a mode of transportation. Who knew?
4. Frustration!!! I hear more whining about the fact he can't move forward...
5. He must have a constant headache - even when we put him on the floor without a quilt to cushion him, he wings his head onto the floor without a care constantly....I keep on waiting for him to miscalculate how hard he's "going for it" when he rolls and end up screaming.

The 2 pictures from the last post were from the last week. And he's made even more progress in the last 48 hours...so we are in for it!!!

Oh we're in big trouble...

Ummm...teething + ear infection = yelling at our house!

So after we listened to Will yell at us for multiple days in a row, I started to doubt my "mommy instinct". Maybe it wasn't just teeth??? So I took Monday morning off and headed to walk-in hours at the pediatrician. Any seasoned parent probably would have had a good giggle at my description of symptoms for the doctor...

diapers - normal

appetite - normal

temperature - normal

sleeping - sort of normal (but since we really don't have "normal" this is debatable)

attitude about life - terrible

nose - a little stuffy (but not enough to really even think about it - no hoover even required!)

I basically said I could be totally off the mark, but I just couldn't chalk his obvious discomfort up to his teeth alone. And sure enough...ear infection! So Will is on antibiotics and Tylenol to keep him comfy. And I am praying that he sleeps for longer stretches than he did last night - he was up every 2 hours from 11:00 on...it was a looooong night. After 8 months, I'm pretty good at it, but last night, I was as mad as Will was about being awake! I feel bad - getting teeth and an ear infection has got to be stinky. All things considered, he's been Will - still smiling and giggling, just not quite as often. So pardon us...we're probably going to be quiet for the rest of the week!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day!! We had a lovely day today, visiting with our family. A little brunch, and a nice walk this afternoon completed our day. I'm headed for walk-in hours tomorrow morning at the pediatrician - I've decided that I need someone with a degree in medicine to confirm my teething diagnosis. The added bonus is that we'll find out how much he weighs...

Teething = Yelling at our house!

Where the heck have you been you might ask.....To be honest, I'm not exactly sure! I've meant to post multiple nights but I've been tired and consistently said "will do tomorrow night". So my apologies... here's a brief catch up on the "goings on"! (OK, maybe not so brief)

Last weekend was lovely - HOT, but lovely. We had a pretty quiet day on Saturday, and then I had a Mommy's night out with some of the mom's from the newborn group. It is always nice to catch up with everyone in person, and these days it feels a little daring to be out on a Saturday night! The big story of the weekend was our trip to the park on Sunday. We'd been planning for a couple of weeks to get all 7 babies from the newborn group together for a group "photo-op".

Yes, I know, there are only 5 babies in that picture! We're missing Anna and Emmerson, both for good reason! :-) We're still very determined to get a picture of all 7...in the meantime, left to right: Jonathan, Millie, Will, Chase, and Cole. Cole is the oldest of the bunch, and that's Donna's (his mom) arm in the picture - he's crawling and won't sit still! Was a great preview for the rest of us (and made me very nervous about Will's impending launch into crawling). It was a remarkably hot day, but we had a great spot under a huge tree (thanks to Shannon and Scott I believe!). Spread out a bunch of blankets and let a bunch of 8-9 month old kids have at it - was really fun to watch!

This week has brought teething, and yelling, to our little family. Will has a volume control problem when it comes to telling us about his teething pain, at all hours of the day and night. So we've had some rough nights, and some rough days in the last week or so. I've gotten a bit creative, as Will doesn't really like teething toys, so we now have apple, pear and banana "popsicles" in the freezer, and we've been feeding him pretty much everything (except milk!) cold. In an interesting turn, Will has been harder to get to sleep, but once down has done a decent job sleeping (all things considered). He's also been eating like a champ! So once we actually get the teeth that are causing all this trouble, we'll let everyone know. Let's hope the rest of them come in with slightly less fanfare...

In the meantime, he's also desperately trying to figure out how to move. On all fours. At this point, it doesn't resemble crawling AT ALL - but there are definitely "pre-crawling" (or what I would think would be pre-crawling) moves that have been added to the repertoire in the last week or so. Rolling in both directions is now old news (and Dave and I were commenting today about the fact that happened in a flash...). We now have to be careful as Will flings himself backwards toward the floor if he's being held. If he's not put down immediately, he arches his back even further, just to make sure you get the message. Put him down, and the reaction is immediate - a big grin, and he goes to work, legs flying, hitting the floor with his hands...the other morning he managed to roll his way over to the edge of the area rug in the nursery - from his perspective, experiencing hardwood floor was a major accomplishment - giggles and squeals of delight for the next 10 minutes!!

Pictures have been updated, a new 8 month album has been added (frightening). Millie is the lovely lady with Will in a good portion of the pictures...we went on a family hike with Shannon, Scott and Millie a couple of weeks ago, and decided to compare size once our hike was over. Will hasn't learned about sharing yet (the pictures are proof!) but we'll keep on working on it... ;-)

An adventure with Cheerios...and a mommy moment...

It has been a long week for us - very busy at work for both Dave and me, and trying to keep Will on a pretty good sleep schedule. Somehow...it is Friday...not exactly sure how that happened, but I'll take it!

I started giving Will a pile of very soggy Cheerios with his meals probably a week or 2 ago. I say "meals" because we're still not on a regular breakfast, lunch, dinner schedule for solid meals. The first several tries with the Cheerios, he looked at them momentarily, and then ignored them. The next couple times, he pushed them around on the highchair tray. The next couple, I helped him put a couple in his mouth, and then he spit them out, with about the same face as the "banana face". Today, finally, it seems he's figured out that Cheerios might be ok finger food. We'll try for video, as it is actually pretty funny - the first real chewing motions...and the "scoop and stuff" (as our friend Carrie calls it). He still wears a lot more than he eats, but I figure this is a great first step toward feeding himself - so we'll keep at it!

And my "mommy moment". I am occasionally reminded that Will is growing up, and quickly. Tonight we pulled out new 12 month sized pj's (yes, at 8 months, he's wearing 12 month pj's!). 12 month pj's can be purchased in 2 varieties - sleeper, and 2 piece. You really can't find pj's that come in 2 pieces until they get to that 12 month size. Anyway - we put Will in his little blue t-shirt with the big dog on it and the matching pj pants and a pair of socks to go to bed tonight - and he looked like such a little boy instead of a baby....amazing how fast the last 8 months have gone...