Monday, November 30, 2009

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!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

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!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

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

Thursday, November 12, 2009

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.

Monday, November 2, 2009

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!!