Busy Weekend!

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to post. Well I have some on my camera, but I'd have to get up... etc. So for now, no pics.

Anyway, this was a super busy weekend! I started on Friday getting ready for a night away from my home and my boy. It's a lot work getting everything all laid out for someone to come in and take care of your baby. Of course the teacher in me wants to write a detailed sub plan. My parents came over to watch Will while I went to a baby shower/dinner and Steven went to a conference.

The shower was for my good friend April, who is about 35 weeks along. So exciting! I can't wait to meet that baby girl. There were just five of us, all friends from Hardin Simmons- Elizabeth, Krystle, Melissa, April, and me. The evening was so wonderful because April is pregnant, it was Krystle's birthday, and one of the girls announced (unintentionally) that she is expecting. I won't say which friend in case she's not ready for a world broadcast. I just love these girls like sisters and wish I got to hang out with them more. I didn't get home until midnight, which if you know me, is super late!

Saturday I helped host another baby shower at church. It turned out great and the Craveys got lots of nice things. Luckily my parents were around and watched Will for us again! I am so thankful they are close!

Today we had church (where my son cried less in the nursery- he still cried, but not the whole time today!), a play date, and then straight to a dinner date. Will passed out as soon as we got home and is sleeping soundly as I type. Lovely.

Tomorrow I am subbing for a friend of mine from church. 5th grade. Yikes! I've subbed for her before though and had a really good time. It's neat b/c I know a lot of her kids from when they were second graders at my school three years ago. It will be nice to be in a classroom again, but I will miss the tot. Mom is coming in the morning. I'm sure he'll be having so much fun he won't even notice I'm gone.

Will is doing a few new things. First he is sort of dancing. When we tell him to "dance" he bobs his head back and forth. No bouncing or anything, just nodding his head in a gansta kind of way. Also, I noticed that he seemed to want to signal more b/c he grabbed my hands everytime I did it. I was thinking that maybe he just didn't know how to do that, so I taught him to clap for more & he is doing it! When I ask if he wants more, he'll clap once or twice. It's so precious. It's the wrong signal, but I don't care. I'm sure the Babywise mom would frown on me. Actually, I'm sure she'd frown on most of what I do. - I just gave my son a bottle and put him straight to bed. GASP! Plus I rocked him to sleep twice today! I know, just horrible. ;)

Grateful

Occasionally I watch the show Brothers and Sisters. I was just watching the latest episode online as I dried my hair and got ready for the day (Will is napping). Anyway, the character Rebecca was pregnant, but lost the baby on this episode. My heart hurt for this fictional character and I actually cried watching it. It made me think back to my own heartache. Steven and I lost our first pregnancy in April of 2008. At 2:30. I hadn't even made it to our 8 week appt yet, but my life was already wrapped around the tiny one growing inside me. Needless to say I was devastated. I took it very hard. I hate hearing about anyone experiencing this kind of pain.

Seeing the show brought those memories back and filled me with an immense gratefulness and desire to praise His name today. It's amazing how God restored my hope and blessed us with the most beautiful baby boy almost exactly one year later after the miscarriage. I begged God for this boy. He listened. I am grateful!

It's important for me to remember this. To remember how badly I wanted this boy and that I'd promise God to not complain and to take whatever child he had for me. I say this b/c I've been ungrateful. So what if my kid doesn't like to sleep and doesn't want to talk to me? I AM A MOMMY! And that's all I asked for. He is perfect and precious and a daily reminder of God's love and provision.

I mean, am I blessed or what?! I get to kiss this little face all day!

So this is my official commitment to be more positive and focus on all the wonderful things my son is doing instead of what he may not be doing yet.

10 Months

I'm really falling behind on blogging duties lately. We've been really busy and then really not busy. In the not busy times we are just trying to relax and sometimes updating the blog is the last thing I want to do. Anyway, on Friday Will turned 10 months old! It's funny b/c it doesn't seem as old as it always has before.

He really didn't start too many new things this past month. He is still pulling up on everything! I can't keep him still at all. I really wish I could get him to just sit and play with toys, but he is on the move constantly. Always going, crawling, standing, scooting, exploring, and just plain causing trouble for himself. The poor boy wants in the cabinets, dishwasher, and oven so badly. He really loves looking at books and this will keep him busy for awhile. He has a black eye right now and a red mark under the other one. He got the black eye while at my mom's house from falling over on a mini-basketball goal. Honestly, I need to get him a helmet.

I don't know that I'm cut out to be a boy mom. My heart can't take all the bumps and bruises. I just know with this boy, I have years of this to come.

Hmmm.. let me think if he's doing anything new lately. Maybe just eating new things, strawberries, cheese, and last night he had his first spaghetti dinner. Oh my goodness- he was such a mess and had such a good time! He had to go straight to the tub afterwards. I didn't know if the orange would wash off, but it did. Today we went to play at a friend's house and he had his first taste of brownie. Needless to say he enjoyed it!

Sleeping is about the same. He still cries before every nap and bedtime. Bedtime is around 8:00 and he'll sleep until about 5:30 every morning, when he wakes up crying. I will get him and either rock him back to sleep or let him come to bed with me. I know this is a bad idea, but I'm too tired at that time of the morning. I don't know how we're going to break him of this habit. I guess I'll have to let him cry. We did one morning and he cried for an hour and a half. He's so stubborn (I'm sorry Will, you get that from me).

No talking yet. NONE. No m's, d's, g's. No mama, dada, NOTHING. Just a baba and lots of grunts and squeals and uh's. I'm trying not to worry, but would by lying if I said I wasn't. Everyone keeps telling me it will come. So I'm waiting. Not very patiently, but waiting.

He's actually screaming right now in his crib b/c he's so tired and won't just lay down. If he only knew how much he'd give just for a little nap in about 20 years.

Can you see his little black eye (the right one)?

Eating a whole strawberry

Getting into everything. Unrolling toilet paper is such fun!

Snow Day Pics

12.5 inches of snow for the DFW area! Really?!!! We couldn't believe it either. It was so wonderful to wake up Thursday morning to a winter wonderland. Especially after such a sad day on Wednesday when my grandfather passed. It was a beautiful reminder of God's promise to wash us white as snow. A reminder of new life and fresh mercies.

We couldn't let the opportunity to enjoy God's creation pass!

Will wasn't so sure about it all. He just wanted down the whole time, but I couldn't let him b/c he already has a cold and I probably shouldn't have even had him outside in the first place.

We had a good time showing him all the snow covered things.

Some more fun with Daddy in the warm house.

My Pee Paw

Charles Malcolm Weltzin

On Wednesday evening, my Pee Paw passed away. He was surrounded by many who loved him, so he was not alone when the time came to move on. He is remembered for being an honorable patriot, devoted and faithful husband, adoring father, and doting grandfather and great-grandfather.

He is already so greatly missed. Please pray for my family as we grieve and deal with this loss.

Keeping me on my toes!

This kid is really everywhere these days! I'm so glad he's able to get around and explore on his own without me, but I really have to watch him (You're thinking, "Duh!") He is into everything, onto everything, and can get himself into some pretty unsafe situations. I honestly think he is super active, more than the average baby. He never wants to just sit still & is constantly on the go. The past couple of days he has finally decided that he would rather do the traditional crawl instead of the army crawl. He's doing it more and more- which I'm excited about, but his poor little knees are so red. He can't crawl on the wood floors if he's wearing pants b/c it's too slippery.

Anyway, here are a few pics from the last couple of days.

Climbing on the wall and the carpet cleaner.

Trying to get my camera. (Yes, those are little boogers in his nose)

But Dad, I want to play with your amp too!

I was wondering when he'd discover how much fun it is to play under the table. My brother and I used to play under there all the time and even colored on the underside of Mom's table. He pulled up on one of the chairs...

and then bumped his head. Sad little thing just stood there and cried while his mean Momma took pictures. I got him out right after this, don't worry.

I'm already predicting years of bruises, bumps, and tears (from me!) as this boy keeps getting bigger and more mobile. Lord, help me!

9 months

*Updated, I forgot to add about sleeping and eating

Will turned 9 months about 2 weeks ago. I am really falling behind on blogging duties.. and Grandma is sure letting me know about it! He's down for a nap and I finally found the camera transfer cord, so I've got a few minutes to post an update. (I'm ignoring the dishes, laundry, and floors that are screaming my name. They've been greatly neglected lately too)

At the 9 month appt. the nurse called him Hercules because he is so strong. He weighed in at 25 lbs and 12 oz - 100th percentile- and 30 1/2 inches- also 100th %! I mean that's a big boy!

So... since turning 9 months, our boy has learned so many new things! The biggest milestone has been learning to pull up. He wants to do it ALL the time and on everything. I must gasp about 46 times a day. He scares me to death. Yesterday he fell and hit his head on a glider in the church nursery and had his first knot on the back of his head. Luckily, I was the one there when it happened- all the other workers were glad of that too! ;) He pulls up on his crib, the bookshelf, walls, mirror, windows, chairs, sofa, - you name it, he's on it. I think we're going to move the coffee table out for a while though. It's the only thing that really makes me nervous. He's very cautious actually, but sometimes his little hands slip and we've already bumped our face one too many times on it.

Second, while army crawling is still his preferred travel method, he has finally started doing some traditional crawling. He'll do it for a little bit, and then just drop to his belly when he decides he wants to get there faster.

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!" Clapping is another fun new discovery! He does it all the time, but rarely when you want him to. It's just the cutest thing ever.

Waving is starting to happen more frequently too. However, again not when you want him to usually. He waves his hand and says, "Haahhh!" I guess that's hi?

*Sleeping is better all the time, but we still have some tough nights. He doesn't like being put in his crib and needs to cry for a bit before we give him his paci again, roll him on his side, and pat his butt a couple of times. Some nights he'll wake up a couple times and then some nights (like last night!!) he will sleep all the way until 6am. The strangest thing has happened the past three nights- he has let me rock him to sleep. Yep, just laid his head on my chest and looked around until he drifted off to sleep. It's been so sweet. I haven't gotten to do that since he was itty bitty.

*Eating: He is nursing 3 times a day and gets a bottle at night. I'm trying to start the weaning process. I'm just ready and he has 4 teeth now- they do not feel good. At all. We've tried soy formula and think it upsets his tummy, so we are using Nutramigen. It's completely soy and dairy free. It tastes horrible, so we mix it with breastmilk. That means I am pumping every night before bed. I'm definitely ready to be done with that. He is eating 3 meals a day and a couple of snacks in between. He eats all veggies we eat (last night was carrots and broccoli), lots of fruit (yesterday he had his first strawberry), and sometimes we are weak and give him things he shouldn't have. Like the churro we got at Costco. He was really eyeing it, so I gave him a pinch from the middle that didn't have all the sugar on it.

*Talking still isn't really happening either. No mama, no dada, only "ba" and "uh" and "ha". I'm trying not stress about it, but it's hard when you hear other babies just chatting away. He's very vocal and screams and yells and laughs and grunts all day. Just not many consonant sounds. He doesn't have any signs down yet either. Of course, I'm sure the Babywise mom's baby knows them all. (after all, her kids are perfect) ;)

Here are some pics of my little crazy.

This is the best I could do. There's no keeping him in that chair now. Not sitting at least.

..I'm ready to get down...

...if I just can get to the floor...

.. and here I am, standing! Now I'm happy!

Baby butts drive me nuts. ;)

Oh, we have moved from the baby tub into the big boy tub! He LOVES it so much! He splashes and kicks and twists and flops and just laughs. He cries when I take him out. I can't wait to take him swimming this summer. It's going to be such fun for all of us.

Look how big those bottom teeth are! His top two teeth are in too, but we couldn't get a good shot of those.

Here he is, standing at the window in his room. It's one of his favorite places. He looks around and yells at the trees.

LOVE HIM