You Know Your Baby is a CHUNK When...

You pick him up out of the Bumbo and the Bumbo comes with him!!!

This is a Bumbo for those of you that aren't familiar...

This happened tonight and I could not stop laughing. His chubby little thighs were squeezed into the Bumbo that when I went to get him out, I had to physically pull the chair off of him instead of it just staying on the floor like it is supposed to :) Hopefully Will will be sitting up on his own pretty soon or he might just get stuck in there one day!

Speaking of chubby babies, I just started reading a book that I ordered off Amazon called Super Baby Food.
I am loving it! Any of you with babes around Will's age would probably enjoy it too. It starts from 6 months ( or before if you start food like we did at 4.5 months old) and goes until they are 3, giving you tips for how to make your own baby food, what to give when, how much, etc. All of this info you get at the pediatrician office, but this is more like a handbook. It is very easy to reference. She gives all sorts of money saving tips throughout the book as well. Some parts are a little extreme...for example when she is talking about the best place to store vegetables, she said that potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark place. She recommends if there is no where in your kitchen to store them, to try the attic. I can't imagine going up to the attic to retrieve a potato. For us, it would be the unfinished bonus room which is neither dark, nor cool at the moment...But she does have some really good tips. I am not one of those crazy organic people that think babies must have all organic....I have even bought the off brand baby food. But while I am home this summer, I am going to give it a go at making some of my own vegetable and fruit baby food. The fruit is easy and with a bit more time, you can make enough vegetable servings for a whole month (she says it takes about an hour). I will let you know how it goes-but check out the book if you are in this stage of life.

All About Me

Something is horribly wrong with our computer. The internet won't even open up. But it is not the internet connection....we have a virus. I am waiting for John to get home so we can figure out what our next step is-we have 2 virus scan programs on our computer that can't seem to get rid of it. I am frantically going to buy something to back up all of our pictures as soon as Will is up from his nap. That is the only thing I care about on our computer-anything else can be replaced! So for now I have my school laptop hooked up to our internet. I have no pictures to share of Will since they are all on my other computer, so I figured I would just do this little task that Katie tagged me to do...
8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Spending the whole summer home with Will
2. My birthday
3. Planting some plants in our beds outside to bring some more color (all of our neighbors are showing us up)
4. My books I just ordered to arrive from Amazon (Bringing Up Boys, Babywise II, Super Baby Food, and My Sister's Keeper)
5. The day when I do not have to sterilize bottles anymore :)
6. John graduating with his MBA (Dec!!)
7. Taking a celebratory trip with just John next March (because he is finished with school)
8. Learning how to REALLY use my camera (a goal for the summer)

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Met some school friends at Panera for lunch
2. Ordered Will's baptism invitations
3. Straightened my closet
4. Played with Will
5. Went on a date night with John to Baha Burger and Couples Bible Study
6. Finished The Shack
7. Watched a marathon of Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood (not the whole marathon)
8. Baked cookies

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. SING
2. monogram my own clothes and gifts i.e. I wish I had a monogramming machine
3. Travel the world with John
4. Keep from eating half the cookies I baked
5. Get all my errands done in 5 minutes
6. Fix the cd changer in my car
7. Get a tan
8. See my niece and nephew more often!

8 Shows I watch:
1. 24
2. The Biggest Loser
3. American Idol
4. One Tree Hill
5. Friends (never gets old)
6. The Today Show
7. Beverly Hills, 90210 (never gets old)
8. The Office

8 of my Favorite Foods:
1. Ice Cream
2. Fiber Plus Dark Chocolate Almond Bars
3. Pineapple
4. Zoes Chicken Roll Ups
5. Alladin's Turkey Melts
6. Big Blue Bagel Bagel Chips
7. Burnt Butter Rice (a specialty of John's mom....delightful)
8. Cereal

8 Places I have traveled:
1. London
2. Paris
3. Ireland
4. Scotland
5. Peru
6. Greece
7. Cabo San Lucas
8. New York City

8 Places I would like to travel:
1. Fiji
2. Greece-I would like to go back with John-he has always wanted to go!
3. Anything with a St. in front of it....St Barts, St Thomas, St Martin, St Lucia
4. Napa Valley in CA
5. Barbados
6. Australia
7. Austria
8. China

People I tag:
1. Katie F.
2. Shealy M.
3. April R.
4. Jenny F.
5. Ashley G.
6. Tessa W.
7. Holly M.
8. Christen S.
9. Jessica C.

How could you??

Dear Mom and Dad,

How could you do this to me??!! Because of your neglect to brush me since the hairless dog came to live with us in January, they did this to me when you took me for a haircut. I heard you tell them just to take about half of my hair off, but after you left they just laughed in my face and said I was so matted that they were going to have to shave me. And then...to make it worse, they didn't even cut my ears one tiny little bit so now the neighborhood dogs are calling me Pippi. I don't even want to go for walks anymore and I prefer to be let outside in the back because I am so self-conscious. I can't even look at you when you take my picture because I am so embarrassed. How did this happen. I used to be king. You use to play with me and sing to me and cuddle with me all day every day until that little mongrel came. He has bigger and cooler toys than me and always gets to go with you when you leave the house. This is disturbing.

Feeling Replaced,

Bentley

Enjoying the Summer

Today was a perfect day to be outside and truly enjoy the fact that I am off work for the next 2 months. John played in a softball tournament this morning with church and Will and I went to watch around 11:30. It was so much fun-the weather was beautiful and not too hot. It was a double elimination tournament. John's team did not win, but he had fun playing! There was also a picnic for family after the first 2 rounds.

Isn't he such a cutie? He is getting so big!!

He was cracking up at his friend Alexis!This is Will's cousin James. James was so cute-he would stand on his tippy toes and peek over to see Will. James will be 1 in August. He is not walking yet, but could balance great by holding onto the stroller.

James liked to "rock" Will in the stroller. Will's face cracks me up-he doesn't look so sure of all that rockin'

Life Changing

You must read this book right now!! If you do not have it, get to the bookstore tomorrow. If you are in the middle of another book, put it down and read this one first. It is THAT GOOD. I did not expect to finish this book in 2 days but I found myself burning the midnight oil, staying up long after Will and John had gone to sleep and read every second of Will's nap time. He actually woke up just as I was almost finished and to keep him from crying, but to also allow me to finish the book, I sat him in the Bumbo and read aloud to him the last few pages. I just had to finish!! The front of the book says "a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman that bound them together." This book was not what I expected, although I am not sure what I expected. You will need tissues...lots of them. I really think it is the best book I have ever read. What an amazing, life-changing story, that is true! You are truly missing out if you do not read it (I know I am beginning to sound like Oprah during one of her book club shows....I just feel that deeply about it). John claims that the last book he read/finished was White Fang in 5th grade :) I have never ever asked him to read a book and I have told him that this one is a must! Please let me know what you think about it if you read it. I have a hard time thinking any of you would be disappointed!

Tricky...

Sleep has become tricky at our house-day and night. Ever since Will turned 4 months old and learned how to roll over, he no longer sleeps through the night. It is so very frustrating because we got used to him sleeping so well through the night! Now he wakes up anywhere between 2 and 4 and if you put his paci in he is fine for an hour or so and then crys again. I swore I would not use the paci at night, but I have learned to never say never. We will not feed him in the middle of the night and we are not going to put him in our bed (don't think that would really help anyways), so we have resorted to the paci. He sleeps soundly once it is tucked in his mouth but then he rolls over, it falls out, and he is awake. We have tried to not go in there and just let him fall back asleep, but that once that took 2 hours which did not make for a fun next day. And he didn't cry/scream for 2 hours, just talked up a storm which kept both John and I awake.
Since I have been out for summer, we normally get out of the house to run errands or meet people for lunch around 11:45 after he eats at 11...which means he does not go down for a nap like he was used to around 12:30. He will nap in the car, but it isn't good sleep like he gets when he naps in his bed. Yesterday I stayed home to try to get in 2 good naps (He no longer goes down in the afternoons-we try, we fight, and he always wins). He slept from 10 to 11 and then from 1:18 - 1:54 and that was IT. I was about to lose it when John came home. He was whiney BECAUSE HE WAS TIRED, but refused to go to sleep. Now he not only can roll from his stomach to back, but just a few days ago started rolling from his back to his stomach. So basically nap time has turned into gymnastics. He is usually at the opposite end of the bed laying in the opposite direction when I go in there to get him up.
I know lots of you out there have been through this. I have read that you start to encounter some sleep problems at 4 months. So I am hoping this will just go away soon. However, if you have any advice, PLEASE offer it. I am willing to try anything. I have tried increasing wake time so that he will nap. Doesn't work. I have tried putting him down earlier than usual for a nap. Doesn't work. I have tried putting 6 pacis in his crib so hopefully with all the rolling he is doing, he will stumble across one and just put it in his mouth-but I don't think he has learned to do that yet. Anyways, any help would be much appreciated!

Summer Reads

(Gasp...a post that isn't about Will) :)

I love to read. Always have. But once I started teaching, I realized how little time there was for me to read anymore, unless it was a picture book or young adult literature that I was reading to prepare a literature circle or something for my students. Now that Will is here (had to mention him at least once!) there is literally no time for reading, maybe not even in the summer. But I am going to try! I started a few years ago making a list of all the books I wanted to read over the summer and then I would read like a maniac from June to August. It is June 1 and I have a rather short list...I am hoping you can help me with that.

One of my students gave me this book on Teacher Appreciation Day. I had never heard of it before. Since receiving it, I have heard TONS about it...on tv, read blogs of people who have read it, and all say great things. I am about a 1/3 of the way through it.

Next on my list is this one. Again, hadn't heard much about it until recently. My dad had it so I borrowed it from him.

Here is where you come in. Please leave in the comments section book titles that you think are a must read for me over summer. I have already read the Twilight series (I just had a feeling someone would say those!) I would love to add to my list. I think the longer my list is, the more inclined I am to get busy reading!