Emma's Birthday

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Mommy wanted me to write and say how much we have to be thankful for this year. Things that I am thankful for:

1) Daddy works so hard so that Mommy can stay home with me.

2) I have two parents that love me so much.

3) In addition to my parents, I have grandparents, aunts, and uncles, cousins, and great-relatives that love me a lot, too!

4) I have the puppies and a cat that I can tug on!

And Mommy wants to add that she is thankful for all of you that love me so much. She has waited a long time for me and is so glad that all of you have supported us as we become a new family. This is surely the very best Thanksgiving EVER!

Love,
Will
(and Mommy and Daddy, too)

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Playtime With Cody!

As most of you know, poor Auntie Cheryl has a blood clot. This means that she has to go to the doctor every day to have injections to make the clot go away and blood draws to check on the progress.

This means that Cody has come to play at our house while she is at the doctor. Cody is very brave and doesn't cry at all when his Mommy leaves! I think that's because we have so much fun playing with my toys!

While Rocky watches with great interest.

And Cody also gets kisses from Jack - whether he wants them or not!


And Mommy feeds him special snacks!

Yummy, caramel apples!

I am very jealous!

I hope Auntie Cheryl feels better soon, but in the meantime, I love having Cody come play!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I Met Santa Claus Today!

When I woke up today, Mommy told me that it was going to be a very special day. We were going to see Santa Claus!

I am not sure who this "Santa" person is, but it seemed to make Mommy pretty happy, so I figured it would be okay.

First, Mommy dressed me in a funny red suit. Then, she put a hat on me. I was not pleased.


But then Daddy took my hat off, and I felt much better. Thanks, Dad!


So, off we went to meet Santa. I have to be quite honest, I am not sure what all of the fuss is about. But, boy, did everyone make a fuss! All of these ladies kept calling my name, ringing bells, and putting things in my face.


I just kept looking for Mommy. So, she left, but I am smarter than that . . . I followed her with my eyes.
Even when she went the other way!


So, did they ever get a shot of me facing forward? Well, you'll just have to wait and see!

All I know is that this Santa person may be nice enough, but he's no Mommy!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Happy Three Month Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Hello, Everyone! I can't believe that it is my third month birthday tomorrow! Neither can Mommy and Daddy!

Mommy packed up all of my 0 - 3 and even some of my 3 - 6 month clothes today. We are going to lend them to our neighbor who is having a little boy in early January. Mommy cried when she put them all away, but they were all too tight, so I didn't mind. I am in all six months clothes right now, so it's a good thing that I have a lot of clothes in Big Boy sizes - didn't stay in the newborn stuff for long!

I am having so much fun now that I am getting used to this big world. I have a lot of fun with my parents, even if they do make the silliest faces and noises sometimes. I smile at them to make them stop. It usually works.

I guess it's good that Mommy always has that silly camera in my face. I know I will like to see pictures when I am older someday.

Here are some of our favorite moments from my 12th week!

Love,
Will













Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Time Is Flying By

Hi, it's Katie again, posting for Will!

It is so hard for me to believe that our Little Man is 12 weeks old already! This Thursday, November 20, will be his third month birthday! Time is flying by. We are trying so hard to enjoy every precious moment.

Will has been changing so much these past few weeks. He is developing his personality more and more each day. He is a smiley, happy boy for the most part, although heaven help the poor person that doesn't feed him fast enough when he is hungry (that person is usually me).

His favorite activity is still taking a bath - "tubby time" never fails to bring smiles and coos. A new favorite past time is reading together in his rocking chair. This is part of every nap routine and bedtime. Our favorite books include "The Belly Button Book," Baby Einstein "Mirror Me" (he loves seeing himself on each new page), and "I Love You This Much."

Will got a new toy last week. This mobile has been my lifesaver on crazy days when I just need a few minutes to grab a shower or grab a quick bite to eat. He loves watching the animals and listening to the rain forest sounds. His favorite is the monkey, and also the shiny leaves that open and close. It even has a remote so that I can turn it off or on without coming into the nursery. The very best part, however, is that I got it second hand on craigslist, so we didn't pay full price for it!

My favorite thing to do with Will to take a nap together. I love the quiet moments just hugging his little body close to mine. It is so relaxing to just watch his face as he sleeps, and see the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathes. I am so thankful for this miracle that we have been blessed with. The best part is that the dogs and cat usually end up curled up next to us and on weekends, Daddy will sometimes join us, too! Lucky we have a king sized bed!

His night sleeping continues to improve and we are regularly getting him to sleep for seven hours at a time. We got one eight hour stretch out of him last week! Too bad that I am now so accustomed to his 2 AM feed that I still wake up, even as he remains peacefully in dreamland! From what we are reading, he will continue the early morning feed until possibly nine months. I have a feeling this little guy might hold on to that feeding as long as he can - the boy loves to eat!

We have been having fun with the camera again, too! We went up to Auntie Cheryl's house last week and took some pictures to use for our holiday cards. Here are some sneak previews of the fun we had!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

I Love My Nana

We visited my Nana Evelyn this weekend. I love my Nana and she loves me!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Sleeping Like A . . . Baby

Hi, it's Katie here. Since Will is napping, I thought I would write this post for him!

As any of you who talked to me or spent any time at our house in the first ten weeks of Will's life well know, sleeping has been an issue for us. At around week six, Will decided that he needed to wake up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Adding to that stress, during the day, he would not nap unless he was held. And not held laying down or even sitting down. No, Will wanted to be held while the holder was standing.

After fourteen consecutive sleepless days and nights, I was at my wit's end. It was then that I purchased the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. March Weissbluth. I tell you, if I wasn't already happily married, I would track this man down and propose to him!

The change didn't come overnight. Not at all. But slowly, I am starting to see the light at the end of the long, dark, sleepless tunnel.

Most of it was simply increasing my understanding how sleep works and that a baby's immature brain simply can't sleep the way we adults want it to. I felt as if I was not parenting Will correctly for him to be sleeping so poorly, but I soon learned that was not the case. Probably the most comforting thing that I learned was that I have to adjust Will's age to his sleep age, which is based not on the day that Will was born, but on his actual due date. Which means that while Will is 11 weeks old, his sleep development is actually only at 9 weeks.

The book was also very helpful in making me feel better about how we were handling Will's crying. Neither of us were okay with letting Will "cry it out" at this early age. Our pediatrician has advised us that we can attempt this method when Will is older - at around four months. Dr. Weissbluth supports that age as well, again adding two weeks on for his sleep age. It made me feel better to know that we were actually not supposed to let such a young baby cry it out.

So although the book didn't have me do much differently than what we were doing before, it gave us the confidence we needed to feel as if we were doing the right thing. And we were also able to start watching for little changes in his sleep development that let us know we were moving in the right direction. We have been having better night sleeping, starting about three weeks ago. It still isn't "through the night," but he gets at least one good five to six hour chunk in a night. Usually, I am only up once with him during my sleeping hours, around 2 - 3 AM. We still have a bad night every once in awhile, but even then, a bad night is getting up two to three times, instead of four to six.

But the biggest developmental milestone has come this week. Will is now able to go down for his naps on his own. We have a brief naptime routine, where I feed him, then change his diaper, and give him a brief massage with his nighttime lotion. We then read two stories, turn out the lights, and rock for five minutes. I put him down, fully awake, and leave the room. He usually doesn't even cry, but if he does, it is half-hearted and weak. I usually don't even have time to think about going back in before he is done with the crying. And the last two times that I have put him down, there has been no crying at all. I want to do victory laps around the house every time he goes down so easily! Then of course, I want to knock on wood in case I have jinxed us!

His naps are still short, about 45 minutes to an hour, but this is very normal for his age. He is then up for about an hour and a half to two hours. He does have the cutest little sleep cue, which lets me know he is ready to sleep. He will take his right hand and play with his ear. That, on top of a yawn or two, lets me know it's time for him to be back in bed.

We still have a lot of work to do, but we are all feeling better with more sleep. Even more importantly, Will seems so much happier now that he is well-rested.


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Some Neat Things About Blogging

There are a lot of really neat things about having my own blog.

1) No more large e-mail files to download - the best pictures will be right here. If you want to save one of the pictures to your own files, just right click and "save picture as." If you need the original file for some reason, just let Mommy know and she will send it to you.

2) All of my stats and important information will be here. Want to know what I weigh? What I am currently eating? Just check the Current Stats to the right.

3) You can share this website with other people. Mommy and Daddy want me to be safe, so please only share this with people that love me.

4) If you start your own blog, then we can link to each others' blogs. It's a great way for everyone to stay in touch! So, let me know if you have one! Aunt Amy's blog is a great example of one of my blogger friends. You can go see how cute her twins are, either by clicking on the link above or going to the blog roll list to the right.

5) There are fun gadgets, like the slide show Mommy put up and also the countdown to my first birthday! Now you will always know how old I am!

Keep checking back for more fun things!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome to my family and friends!

Thank you for stopping by to check out my new blog. This is where my Mommy and Daddy will post exciting happenings in my day-to-day life!

I love you!

Will