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!!

Behind

I am extremely behind on my blogging. I am quite dissappointed in myself actually. We had a Halloween party for some in town kiddos and their families that we know and I have all kinds of cute pictures to post. Will also was 9 months last week and went to the doctor and I have yet to do a nine month update. You see, I have been under the weather. Starting Sunday night I started feeling yucky and it escalated to a full on cold by Tuesday. Yesterday when I got home from work I laid on the couch literally until I went to bed. Being sick with a child is much different than just being sick with a husband. It is not all about me. Life moves on, pretty quickly actually, and I had to fend for myself. John was great about having Will the entire day yesterday-they played, ate, bathed, and got to sleep all without momma's help. It made me so sad when Will would crawl over to the couch and pull up to where I was laying and just give me those puppy dog eyes, as if he were saying "Momma why aren't you loving on me?" I am still stuffy today but I suppose I will live. I will get to work on the other posts, but for now, this is what it is like for us right now in the world of stage 3 foods...

Not pretty. Will has always loved to eat. As I have mentioned previously, the only thing we cannot get him to eat is peas. Until now. I guess it is the thickness and texture of the stage 3 food but he is not pleased. We gave him Whole Wheat Pasta Paremesan Sunday night and this is the result. The first few bites he just took because I guess he was hungry. Then he began spitting them out before even attempting to swallow. I tried to give him green beans and fruit in the middle but those came out too. Eventually he would not take anything on a spoon on Sunday night because he thought it was the pasta. Notice his shirt is severely stained, and this was after cleaning him up twice. So with me not feeling good and Will screaming to the top of his lungs, I decided it wasn't worth the battle....so wholesome puffs and yogurt melts became dinner! He loves feeding these to himself and he has gotten quick! Looks like I will now have to be figuring out meals that all of us can eat for dinner. I think he is over the baby food-I can't really blame him.

Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch

This was our 2nd attempt to take Will to the pumpkin patch. We were supposed to go this past Monday since I was off work for Columbus Day. It poured the entire day. So we decided we would try again today. No rain thankfully, but it was COLD!!! He had on a jacket and we had him wrapped tight in a blanket. I should have brought him a taboggan. If you live close to Clanton, this is a great pumpkin patch! There were tons of inflatables, a petting zoo, lots of festive fall food, a tractor ride, a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, face painting, etc. Since Will is still small and it was freezing, we just bought our tickets for the hay ride, rode out to the pumpkin patch, grabbed the first pumpkin that looked decent, and got back on to head back to the car. We managed to snap a few pictures as well. It will be so much fun to take Will back next year when he will be old enough to do the other activities!This is Will on the hayride. He just kept looking around and at us, like "What are we doing??"

In the pumpkin patch with daddy

The pumpkin that we brought home

Should have saved for a rainy day......

All this rain is making my mind drift to things on my wish list. Sounds crazy I know but maybe that is where the old saying comes from..."Save it for a rainy day".....because maybe you just want to spend money when its raining. Too bad I have no extra money to go and snatch up some of the things on my list! Here are some current things that I feel I must have...better get sunny soon!
I have seen these shoes in the past but recently they have become the new biggest trend over people I know...especially teacher friends. I have always thought they were cute but wondered if I could really pull them off. I think that I could...and they are so comfy...and only $40!

My hardwood floors drive me crazy. They are sealed and supposed to be shiny but they do not stay shiny very long after you clean them with the stupid vinegar and water. I recently got a swiffer sweeper jet and that has helped with the dust bunnies, but I think this would do the job just fine! Everyone I talk to loves theirs...and for just $119 this bad boy can be mine!

It is about time for Santa to come! I have gone back and forth about the kind of stocking I should get for Will. Both of ours are just the stitched ones with our names at the top. We got them the first year we were married. I don't want one of those for Will...for one they aren't very big (which I guess could work in our favor down the road, but still) and two, they don't look very "kiddy." I am in love with this one from Pottery Barn Kids. I figure every year they will have some version of the quilted ones so any other kids we may have would have a similar stocking. They are only $19 with free shipping right now....Hmmmmm
Anything else you think I should add to my wish list?

Of course, what is a post without a picture of Will! It is crazy hard trying to get his picture these days simply because the minute you sit him down to take it, he takes off crawling. He thinks it is hysterical.

Seriously...this is the best I could do. No clue what he is doing with his mouth!! I just wanted you to see his cute skeleton shirt...It glows in the dark!

On the Move!

Happy Nine Month Birthday to Will! To celebrate I figured I would post a video I just took today of him crawling. He started showing interest about a week ago and has gotten really good at it the past few days. It is so funny to walk in the door and have him crawl to greet me! However, with this newfound independence means our days are a bit more challenging. We cannot take our eyes off of him for one second! We go to the doctor tomorrow for our 9 month check up so I will update with stats tomorrow!

You will notice that Bentley is never far from where Will is. They sort of have a love/hate relationship. Bentley cannot stand for Will to pull his hair and tail, but he still stays close to him and dodges his grip as best he can.

M&M

The Melting Pot was fabulous. I told John the main reason that I liked it, other than the food, was that it was not just an eat and run kind of place...it was a whole production that forced us to stay longer than we normally would have at dinner and enjoy the evening. I ate more Thursday night than I have at any given meal probably ever, including holidays, and also including anytime while I was pregnant! We had spinach and artichoke cheese as our appetizer with all sorts of yummy things to dip in it, then we had salads, next was the meat: shrimp, chicken, filet, strip steak, bratwurst, and some ravioli.They brought out about 10 different sauces and we had fun sampling all of the different ones. I will admit it was a little odd that they brought a plate of raw meat to the table, but I got over it pretty quick. My favorite part, and probably everyone's favorite part of a meal there, was dessert. They brought out a chocolate menu. There were over 10 different chocolate choices to choose from. We went with the Yin and Yang. It was a mix of white chocolate and milk chocolate. It looked so neat when they brought it to the table. It was perfectly separate in a yin yang shape. The dippers for dessert were strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, brownies, rice krispies, and marshmallows covered in oreo and graham cracker. At the end, I swear I ate the last of the chocolate with a spoon. It was amazing!!!

As for the second M, John received and accepted an offer with Mercedes Benz. We are thrilled that this opportunity worked out for him. He will start on October 26. We were extremely worried about a month ago when John learned that his plant would be closing. He was given an end date of November 30. We were just hoping he would find something by then and out of the blue he submitted his resume to MB for a process engineer position. This is why we headed to Tuscaloosa for a date night-he wanted to show me the plant and get my opinion on the drive. It was then I realized John was super excited about the prospect of working there and I so hoped that it would all work out. I haven't seen him excited about work in quite a while. And it did. The Lord took care of us and our every need...again!

1,460 days and counting!

Today is our 4th anniversary!! I say this every year but it is crazy how time flies, and each year just gets better and better. This year I think we have become the closest simply because we had to. Having a baby is a huge change in a marriage. You are so busy and absorbed in the little one that you have to make a conscious, deliberate effort just to go out to dinner or talk about your day. It is an everyday battle of not enough time. Throw John's school into the mix and it has been an interesting eight months to say the least. I have never shared this but on the last night that we spent in the hospital, I had a major freak out, melt down moment. It was like all of a sudden I realized that Will would be coming home with us. I had this preconceived notion about how the birth of my child would affect me. I thought it would be an immediate click and this euphoric experience. Don't get me wrong. I loved Will from the moment I laid eyes on him. He was such a blessing and he grabbed hold of my heart. However, do I love him more now, or even in the first few weeks we were home? YES. I got to know him and his little personality and it was a different kind of love than on January 13. He was dependent on me from day one, but I didn't feel that connection for a few days. Anyways, Will was laying in the little rolling cart, I was in bed, and John was in a chair pulled right up beside my bed. We were talking and all of a sudden the tears started flowing. I loved our little life before Will. I had married my best friend so every day, even if we argued, was a good one because John was by my side. I got to share everything in life with him. I was haunted by the fact that our married life would never be the same. We now had a baby. It was not going to be just the two of us. As I type this, I feel guilty, just as I did that night that all those feelings rushed through my head. How could I be feeling this way when there was a perfect little angel soundly sleeping in front of us. But I did. And it took a few days home to realize that we were going to make it :) That yes, our lives were drastically different, and our married life would be changed. And it would be hard to just go out to dinner or stay up late watching tv and eating ice cream, or driving around with the windows rolled down singing (yes, we still did this, and still do!). But we still do it. We just have to be a bit more strategic about it. Having a baby has forced us to communicate better than we ever have. I have probably gotten more frustrated with John in this year of marriage than ever before because I am pulled in so many directions and often it just gets taken out on him. However, I have also never loved John more than in this year of marriage. Seeing him with our son melts my heart. It definitely is a different kind of love. We are headed out to date night tonight...The Melting Pot! I can't wait...certain to be different than last year!

Weekend Update

We have started scooting. We love to put him on the hardwoods in his pajamas and he just slides backwards until he runs into a wall.

Today he pulled himself up for the first time using the coffee table. John was watching TV and I walked out of the room for 5 seconds and when I returned he had popped up. Now he is trying to pull up on everything!

Instead of just playing with one toy, Will would rather pull the whole basket on top of his lap so he can have easy access to all his toys. He sat like this for thirty minutes this morning watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I meant to post this picture last weekend. We got to visit with cousins last weekend. Dylan and Brandon went with my parents to the Alabama game, so Tessa and Sutherlan hung out with me and Will all day. We did a lot of shopping and the girls went to get pedicures!!

Recharged

It is amazing how one date night can totally make up for lots of nights of cleaning, laundry, exhaustion, etc. I have been looking forward to tonight since Monday night when we decided it was time for a date night. I must say it didn't disappoint. Usually our date night consists of running out for a quick bite to eat. We never linger anywhere very long, knowing we have a little man to get home to, even if he is asleep. Tonight was different. Due to some changing circumstances with John's job (long story, another post), John had his third interview with Mercedes on Tuesday. He had two phone interviews the week before. This is an opportunity he is pretty excited about and after making a list of pros/cons, the only con we can come up with is the commute. It isn't really even the commute, just the fact that he would have to be at work at 6am. So...he wanted to test drive it with me to see what I thought about the drive, etc and he wanted to show me the plant. Since this is the first time John has been excited about anything remotely related to work in a while, I suggested we make a date out of it! I have been dying to go to my favorite Italian restaurant in Tuscaloosa, DePalmas for a very long time. So on Monday night we decided we would do a drive by Mercedes and then keep going a little further and eat. On the way home, I told John we should try to do an "out of town" date every few months. We had such a great time! Mainly because we didn't just eat and run. We had a 45 minute drive filled with conversation, then we had to wait about an hour to eat, which got us to talking about college and courtship. It is weird to think that I was a freshman in college 8 years ago. Going back to Tuscaloosa brought back so many memories and I felt like an old person as we drove around, going "OOOhhh, that wasn't there....hey look....The Loft....Starbucks....Panera." Dinner was amazing. If you are ever in the area, I HIGHLY recommend it. Well worth the wait. We cracked up when we looked at the time and realized it was 7:30pm and we still hadn't been seated yet! We hadn't really noticed it was so late. I can't remember the last time we ate so late, but I know it was well before Will was born! It is funny how going back to my college town after not being in a while made me feel old. There were lots of college kids on dates, all dressed to go out, and I hadn't even had a chance to change out of the clothes I wore to school today. On the way home we drove around campus, my old sorority house and telling funny stories about our college days. We topped the night off with TCBY drive through before jumping on the interstate. We blasted music and sang on the way home. I joked with John and told him I felt like we were young again :) John leaves in the morning with some guys from our Sunday School class back in Auburn, headed to Tennessee for the game. I was so thrilled we got to spend some quality time together. Date nights sure are different now...we come home and the first thing we do is go and check on Will. What a precious sight!