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!!!