Will's Resort

I mean … are you KIDDING ME!?!?!?

Seriously! Sorry for the rant, but this was the last straw. Hello, remember me...Bentley, aka “the Bentlers,” “Mr. Bentley,” “Bent.” You can reference the previous entries of this blog for more info. Yep, that’s me, the picture directly below my parents dated December of ’05, which by the way is over 3 years prior to the event that occurred this past January. The hairless dog my parents call Will has struck again. Just when I was about to be over this little change in lifestyle since my brother arrived, Christmas rolled around giving me a not so nice “kick in the gut” reminder. Not only does Will have his OWN room to sleep in, he now has a room allocated just for his toys. FYI… this is a 3 bedroom house we live in, so technically he has taken over half the house, IN LESS THAN 1 YEAR. What do I have? 2 flipping corners! One for my bed and a corner for my toys.

Is that it? Nope! The hits just keep on coming. It took me 4 years to accumulate my basket of toys. It took my brother 2 days to fill the whole house!

Anyway, just wanted to hit on this little soap box that popped up during this what-could-have-been lovely holiday season. Oh and Will, if you’re reading this, I would be very careful about which toys you choose to put in your mouth.

Regards,
Bentley

Cookies for Santa

It started with all of these yummy ingredients...

We waited patiently for the wet ingredients to mix...Then we did a little bit of stirring... And a little bit of tasting... And we made some delicious treats for Santa to enjoy when he stops by our house tonight! They are double chocolate chunk which just so happens to be Mommy's favorite kind! What a coincidence!! CAN'T WAIT!!

That's My Husband!!!!

I never ever thought this day would ever be here. Last Friday, December 18, John graduated from Auburn with his MBA. Since we got married, one of us has been in school. I started my masters in May 06 and finished in June 07. John then started in August of 07 and is now done with school work...FOREVER! I hope I never have to hear the words, "I have to watch a lecture tonight," ever again!!!!
The weather on Friday was terrible. Freezing cold, raining. Not exactly the weather you want to get yourself, much less an 11 month old, out in. But we did. Of course we did. It was important to John, so it was important to us. Here are a few pictures from the day! Way to go, John!

The hood!

All bundled up to head back home!

ELEVEN

Only one more month until Will turns one!!! Hard.To.Believe. No really great pictures to share. I have very few these days because it is impossible to get him to sit still for even a second to snap a picture. And you can forget sitting still AND smiling. Just not gonna happen. A few fun facts about our BIG boy!

-He got his first ear infection last week :( I guess it was gonna happen one of these days.

-He gives precious hugs. I'm talking both arms wrapped around your neck, face snuggled into your shoulder. The real deal! And I can't get enough of them!!

-He is into this new thing of laying his head on any and everything that he sees and wants to feel. Instead of reaching out first, he lays his little cheek on there. It is adorable. He has done this to people, Bentley, stuffed animals, the mat under the sink in our kitchen (ew!), the cofee table, the couch, the list goes on. It is his way of checking it out.

-He says Dada all the time. John finally convinced me to write that in his baby book as his first word. He said Mama early on and has said it a few times, but says Dada all the time, and I think he knows what it means. This morning I got up with Will and let John sleep a little while longer. When we came into the den, Will pointed at our bedroom door and said "Dada." We almost went and woke him up right then, it was so precious!

-He is working on 7 teeth! 2 on top and 2 on bottom are fully in and have been that way for a while. He is getting 2 more on top, on either sides of the ones that are already there, and 1 on the bottom.

-If you yell loudly, he will mimic you. He and John go back and forth-it is hysterical.

-When he hears the garage door he makes a bee line to the front door and stands up to look out the glass.

-Surprisingly, he has not really messed with the Christmas tree. His eyes get huge when we turn on the lights, and he does crawl over and touch ornaments every now and then but not nearly as bad as we thought. However, we also don't have anything wrapped under the tree. I have a feeling paper boxes and bows would be a bit more tempting!

-We are getting ready for his monkey themed birthday party in just a little over a month! Time flies when you are having fun.

Thinking Outside the Box

This is what I found after I gave Will about 3 minutes of independent play time while I folded some clothes!*In case you can't tell, that is a small bottle of baby powder that he put in his busy ball popper!

Transitions

We have entered into a transition phase. For starters, Will began drinking whole milk on Saturday! This was a big milestone for us and a huge relief that he adjusted so well from momma's milk straight to whole. Another change is that he is only getting one bottle at night time. Every other liquid he drinks is from the sippy cup. This is such an answered prayer! I was really worried about him getting dehydrated because on Saturday he would not drink more than a sip of milk from the sippy cup. He does fine with water, but I think because the milk was now cold and not in a bottle it threw him for a loop. This morning, however, he drank 5 oz out of a sippy cup right after I got him up! I was so proud of him.

He is cutting 3 new teeth at the moment...all at the same time, poor little guy! He is drooling like crazy and I can tell he is experiencing some discomfort. The past 2 nights he has woken up screaming and had to be rocked to sleep. It is rough now to wake up in the middle of the night but I can't say that I mind. It was nice to just have him snuggle up with me and fall back asleep. Seeing as how I just ordered his first birthday invitations today, he won't be my little baby much longer!

Dinner has gotten so much better for us and actually fun these days. We put most of his food on his tray and he feeds himself. He is loving fruit-blueberries, strawberries and grapes are his favorite right now! Now that he feeds himself, we can actually all eat dinner as a family. John and I sit down and eat while he is eating. Last night I gave him some of my macaroni and cheese and he loved it! So fun that we can try new things now.

Prayers up for my friend Holly M. who is having Baby Jay tomorrow! This will certainly be a transition period for her as well. I can't wait for her to have a little BOY to love on!!

SANTA!!! I know him!!!!

Sorry for the Elf quote, but it is probably my favorite part of the whole movie! Anyways, we went to see Santa on Friday night. We took Will to Bass Pro Shop. We had never been there since it opened and we had heard they had a great "Winter Wonderland" along with a free picture with Santa! It was extremely obvious that we are first time parents and only have 1 child. Both sets of grandparents joined us to see Will with Santa for the first time. We had our camera AND the video camera. John and I had talked and predicted how we thought Will would react to Santa. Will didn't disappoint! He wailed the ENTIRE time he was in Santa's lap. I was just snapping away with my camera and John was videotaping. People probably thought we were horrible parents for not rescuing our child, but it was just so funny.

He just kept looking up at him and then looking back at us, expecting us to save him!

Saturday the only thing I wanted to accomplish was getting a Christmas card picture taken. I had already tried twice last week and after 123 pictures, not one was good enough to deem worthy for the card. I don't know why I thought it would be easy. Our last attempt was Saturday afternoon when it was FREEZING. Our neighbor let us borrow their little red wagon because we needed to contain Will in something. In between takes, we would wrap him up in a blanket! He thought it was hysterical!

Happy Retirement Day, Pops!

Today was my dad's last day with Pfizer. He is officially retired (which means my mom now has a full time job)!! He made this decision a few months ago, but told me today that it hasn't hit him yet. He is having a hard time thinking about not having a job since he says he has worked since he was 12! Once it finally sets in, I don't think he will regret it. After all, I know one little boy that will keep him busy in all his spare time!

Meet Rudy

This is Rudy.

He was sent by Santa to keep a close check on Will through the Christmas season! I have been so excited to start this tradition with Will. I know he is a bit young, but we couldn't send him back to the North Pole!! We busted out some of Will's Christmas pajamas, read the Elf on a Shelf, and then decided on a name.

We had 3 that we really liked, so we wrote each on a piece of paper and let Will draw.

Rudy it is...the Vakakes Family Elf!

TEN

Will turned 10 months old on Friday. He decided to celebrate by getting sick for the first time. Oh what fun it is! No one can prepare you for how your heart aches when your child is sick. Especially when they can't talk. Friday he had a really runny nose, but that was it. We put him down around 7:15. He woke up at 9:30 crying because he couldn't breathe, and therefore could not take his paci, which kept him awake. I gave him some more milk to try to calm him down because at this point he wasn't very pitiful, just awake. He woke back up at 12:15 for the same reason-stopped up, but this time he had also peed all over himself. His diaper was completely saturated. I guess it was the extra milk. So we had to change him which woke him from his semi-awake state. His eyes were watery and his nose was crusty. I could tell there would be no sleep for me! I sat in the recliner with him until 2:45. He was back up at 4:45 and that is when we started our Saturday :) All through the night he would just look up at me with these teary eyes, as if he was saying "Mommy, do something." It was pitiful!! I invested in a warm mist humidifier, some Vicks vaporub, and just tried to keep little man content. He did not leave my side on Saturday, not that he could go far, but you know what I mean...just wanted to be held. He slept MUCH better last night (I fully attribute it to that warm mist humidifier), but woke with a very croupy (sp?) cough. He was also wheezing a bit when he crawled around and seemed to lose his breath easily. We called the after hours number at our pediatricians office and decided to wait and see what the rest of the day brought. Fever came so we decided to get him seen by a doctor. Children's hospital has an after hours clinic on Acton Road that he was referred to with an appointment. We arrived at 6:30 and left at 8:15.....We waited an hour and forty five minutes to hear that he was congested and it would run its course. SO FRUSTRATING. We felt better that we had him checked, but hindsight we just wish we would have made an appt with our regular pediatrician in the morning. They recommended that we use saline drops in his nose to loosen up the congestion. To put it mildly, Will is not a fan!! That was the straw that broke the camel's back. We were squirting something up his nose, he had not had his bottle yet, and it was 2 hours past his bedtime. I am glad we did not have our first sick dr visit until ten months old, but I hope they are few and far between!
Nothing much new to report with this month...
-23 lbs.
-still 4 teeth
-mimics our laugh...in a very sarcastic sounding way....very funny
-plays with my hair when he is tired
-says mama, dada, gaga (at least these are the ones we can understand)
-walks along furniture but has not stood alone yet

Family Date Night

When John got home from work yesterday, I decided that a great way to end my perfect day off would be to go out to eat! I was off for Veteran's Day yesterday and it was wonderful. I shopped a little (Will got his first pair of real kicks-some pedipeds), snuggled with Will, ate lunch with a friend, and made brownies which I ate warm on the couch while catching up on 90210 during Will's nap. Pure Bliss!

Anyways, we decided to take Will to the Galleria to ride the carousel and just decided we would eat in the food court.

We sat right in front of the carousel during dinner and this is what he did the entire time we ate...He was totally enthralled!!

I told John we would probably have "that kid" that loved looking at the carousel but once we got on would scream. Not so! He loved it. I belted him on and it was like he knew just what to do. He gripped the pole so hard his knuckles were turning white. He loved that there was a mirror on one side of him. He watched himself go up and down. John and I laughed because most of the other parents on the carousel had older children and this obviously wasn't their first time. They did not look amused. We on the other hand were having the time of our life. We love that we now have an excuse to do all of these fun things. I am LOVING the stage Will is in right now. He is so much fun.

Mommy's Little Monkey

Here are some pictures from our Halloween festivities. Even though Will was too young to know what in the world was going on, he really liked his monkey costume. I say this because between Saturday and Sunday, the poor thing was dressed and undressed in it 4 different times and he never cried or complained. It was too cute!

This is about the best family picture we got. It was at least good of Will. I was cracking up at the people behind the camera trying to get Will to pay attention and smile and who knows what John was doing. We headed over to my cousin's house first so he could see my grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. I got to hand it to my grandmother. EE is 85 years old and still party's with the best of em. She was even dressed up! We then went by John's parents house so they could see Monkey Will. We got home just in time to feed Will dinner and then go trick or treating with our cute neighbor down the street. Ava is 2 and John thought she had the best costume ever!!

Tricks and Treats

Happy Halloween! This morning Will learned a new trick...

We also received a box of treats from Aunt Jean and Uncle Steve!

Please excuse John's commentary about the Auburn game in the background :)

NINE (and a half)

I am behind on my blogging. Will was nine months old on October 13. Fall has been busy for us, but we love it! It is extremely hard for me to believe that in just a few months I will be planning his first birthday!!!!Yes...that would be his initials you see on his boxers!!! You may remember seeing these in a post I did after my Auburn baby shower. A sweet friend gave 2 pairs of these to Will and they are adorable on him. Those pics were for you, Amy!!!

Now that Will is MOBILE I have far less time to update the blog, read blogs, etc. He is crawling at lightning speed!
Here is a little about what life with Will is like now...
-He weighs 21 pounds and is 24 inches long

-He is in a big boy car seat!

-He is eating real food now...well sort of. He no longer likes baby food so we have started introducing solids. So far he has had (and loves) cantalope, cheese, peas, butter beans, corn, chicken, and cottage cheese. We are having to be creative, especially with dinner because he is so hungry and gets frustrated that this process is much slower than just shoving a spoon in his mouth. I get frustrated too. Dinner has become a much more lively and loud ordeal. But I know it is just new to him and he will catch on.

-As I said before, he is crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. His latest conquest was the kitchen. I was cooking and so I put a bowl and spoon on the floor for him. He had fun with that for about 2 minutes and then moved on to the next thing...the dishwasher. This seemed to keep him entertained for a while. It also kept me entertained when his feet started slipping and he was headed for the splits.

-He loves bath time with Daddy. He squeals and laughs and splashes. He has started this fake laugh that cracks us up. We have started brushing his teeth after his bath. We sit him on the counter in his towel. He loves looking at himself in the mirror! -His favorite book at the moment is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? By Dr. Seuss
-He says Mamamamama and bababababa and gagagagagag all the time. He has said Dadadadad before but it has been a while.
-He produces serious crocodile tears when you tell him "No No." Our pediatrician told us we had to use a different, stern tone of voice with him when telling him no, or else he would just hear "la la" and not understand. His little lip puckers out every time I say No No in my "momma" tone of voice. Either we have a super sensitive child on our hands or one who is going to throw a tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants. I have already asked to borrow my parents copy of A Strong Willed Child. :)

-He has 4 teeth. 2 up top and 2 on bottom.
-He does NOT enjoy peek-a-boo. It scares him to death.

-Bedtime has gotten better. I really think that he was screaming Sunday night for so long because he might have been hungry. That was the first night we started him on solid foods. He got frustrated with the texture and wouldn't eat anymore so we just gave up and he got milk before bed.
-He is growing out of clothes left and right. I try to remind myself of this when I see a precious outfit that costs way too much. He is in 18 month clothes right now.

-He is the most precious thing I have ever laid eyes on and we love him dearly!!!

Cheated by Home Economics

Tonight while ironing John's dress shirt I had an epiphany. I was cheated by Home Ec. Instead of learning useful things, like how to properly iron a dress shirt, I followed recipes to make very mediocre food. Really the only thing I remember doing in home ec was baking and a little bit of sewing. I am a terrible ironer (is that a word??). It would probably make it easier if I removed dry clothes from the dryer right after they were dry instead of letting them sit in there dry for 3+ days. But still. I can decently iron a pair of pants (without a crease) and I can skim over polo shirts to make them wearable. But button down dress shirts are a whole different story. It took me 28 minutes to iron John's shirt tonight. He starts his new job at Mercedes tomorrow and,trying to be a good wife, I wanted to make sure he looked his best. I would iron one section and as soon as I did another section I would realize that I somehow messed up the first section I did. It was rather frustrating. So I decided that home ec should be required to teach you how to iron. I never ironed anything before I got married. I just threw it in the dryer to give it a fluff. Boy clothes don't "fluff."
As I sit listening to Will SCREAM, I am also reminded that carrying around a 10 pound bag of flour did nothing to help me understand babies and taking care of them (Please tell me your middle school offered a babysitting class as an exploratory). I just learned that babies/flour can be rather heavy when carrying it along with textbooks, binders, purse, etc. However, I am pretty sure Will was not 10 pounds for very long, making that whole class a waste as well!
As for the screaming...since Will was born we have never had to let him cry it out. Not once. Actually, I kind of remember listening to him whimper for about 15 minutes one night when he was like a month old but that was not crying it out. Just getting settled. For his entire first 9 months of life he has gone to bed VERY easily. No rocking, we just lay him in there awake and he snuzzles his little nose in his sheet and goes right to sleep. The past 3 nights have been different. Friday night he screamed, I went in and rocked him, he went to sleep. Last night it took a few tries, but he went down pretty quickly. Tonight I decided that this is when Will was going to test us. He has been screaming for 30 minutes off and on. He will quiet down only to erupt. I keep telling John that if we go in there and rock him (which he fights) it is only going to teach him that when he cries, we are going to run in to get them. Now I know some people are very opinionated about crying it out. I have read and read about this topic and finally just had to pick something and go with it. I know every baby is different. I think Will has just become a LOT more mobile recently (pulling up on crib, etc) so he is able to fight sleep a lot more now. I am hoping we can break this habit soon!

A Monkey and a Hot Dog Throw a Party!

Last Sunday we had a little party for some in town kiddos and families we know. The kids came dressed up in their costumes and we enjoyed seeing all of them play together. It was especially neat to see Will interact with so many kids at the same time. I am extremely behind posting this because I tried to make a little slideshow on smilebox and it is all made sitting in my creations but I cannot figure out how to get it where I can post it to a blog! SO frustrating! The party was really fun and we hope to make it an annual thing. John told me I went into total "mom mode" getting the house decorated and the treats made. It was fun!!