5 Months Old

Mr. Will is 5 months old today. He's getting to be so big! I think he's on the verge of being able to do a lot of new things like rolling and sitting up on his own. It will be time to baby-proof the house before we know it!

He also loves to watch football, much to my dismay. Here's a picture of him watching the Bengals with daddy. My Aunt Janet bought him a little football for Christmas that he is holding.

Will's 1st Christmas

Will had a great first Christmas. He was very spoiled by his grandparents and aunts and uncles. Mommy and Daddy and Santa didn't really help matters either :-) He got lots of new toys and a few clothes (including a Pantera onesie from Uncle Mike and a Santa sweatshirt for next year from Grandma Carol). Aunt Rachel and Uncle Andy got him lots of jungle toys to match his room. He got a stuffed lion, a lion push toy for when he starts learning to walk, and a rolling tiger toy. One of his biggest presents was a toy car to ride from Grandma Carol an Grandpa Mike. It's so cute! The little horn even beeps.

We went to Grandma Rita's for Christmas Eve and then went to mom and dad's to spend the night. We had Christmas morning with my family and then mom's side of the family came over in the afternoon. We definitely missed spending the holiday with Tim's family, but I do have to say that it's nice to stay home for once. This is the first time in 8 years we haven't traveled on Christmas or right after.

Last weekend my parents were nice enough to sit with Will for us so we could go to a Christmas party at Joe and Katie's. We decided to take advantage and go out on a dinner date beforehand. It was really nice to have some time just the two of us. It's been a few months since we've gone out together, and this was only the 3rd time we've been out without the baby since he was born. Unfortunately, I slipped on some ice on the way down Joe and Katie's front steps and hurt my foot. A week later it's still not 100% and I'm getting concerned. Training for the half marathon starts in a few weeks and I'm going to be so pissed I can't see straight if I can't do it. That would be the 3rd year in a row my half marathon plans were foiled. And this may be my last chance for a long time since I'm probably going to be pregnant again for next year.

Sitting with Daddy on Christmas Morning:















Opening gifts with Mommy:

Opening gifts from Grandpa Robin & Grandma Elaine with Daddy:

Will the Musical Genius

Not really, but I thought this picture was cute (not of me, but of him). He likes to sit in my lap while I play the piano. I've been trying to play more lately so that he is exposed to it. After I'm done playing a song then I let him bang on the keys. I don't think he really understands that what he is doing actually creates the sounds he's hearing, but he likes to bang on them all the same. It's particularly funny because he looks up at the music while he bangs on the keys so it looks like he is really playing the piano. Unfortunately, daddy chose to immortalize this memory first thing in the morning before I'd had time to shower. Let's entitle this picture: Musical Will and His Hobo Mommy...

It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas...

Christmas is definitely more magical this year with Mr. Will in the house. He, of course, has no idea what's going on. It's still fun, though. Here's a pic of of Will's stocking hung by the chimney with care :-) His is the Santa one. I'm going to have his name embroidered on the top after Christmas. Hopefully Santa will leave him some goodies in his stocking! The other stocking is for his future brother or sister. I wanted to make sure they match so I bought two of them. Yes, I am that anal.

And here's our Christmas tree. Please keep in mind that the tree has had quite a bit of re-decorating (especially around the bottom) care of Molly and Mia the cats.

I don't want to jinx it but...

Will's been sleeping really well this week. It's like all of the sudden he just figured out how to sleep again. He goes to bed around 8:30 (although getting him down at night has never been an issue, he's always fallen asleep like a champ it's just the I staying asleep part that we've had problems with), wakes up to eat between 4 and 5am, wakes up again around 8 to eat, and then sleeps until 9 or 10 (which gives me a chance to shower and eat). I mean, it's not like he's sleeping through the night yet or anything, but let's not be greedy. He's not waking up 4 and 5 times a night anymore and that's great to me. And really, that first stretch he's sleeping like 8 hours. I can't really ask more of the little man than that.

In other Will news, I had to start putting him in 6 month size sleepers this week. He's gotten too long for his 3 month ones. He still fits in 3 month pants and onesies. He always grows out of the sleepers first, though... Growing so fast :-(

4 Month Checkup

We had our 4 month checkup today with Dr. Bishop. Still very healthy and still 75th percentile on both height and weight. He weighs 15 pounds 15 ounces (almost 16 pounds!), which is a 3 pound 10 ounce gain in 2 months. He's 25 3/4 inches long.

Will cried most of the visit. I think he was scared of Dr. Bishop's voice. And then came the shots... He got 3 of them this time (the same two as last time plus his 2nd Hep B - the first one was at birth). He was not a happy camper. The shots were almost worse to watch this time. Even though he's bigger now he's also more aware so every time he stopped screaming he gave me this look like, "why are you doing this to me, mom?". Horrible! All better now, though, and sleeping it off.

They gave me a handout on starting solids, but Dr. B said that there's really no reason to rush them and that if he were me he would wait until 6 months. They're not getting any additional nutrition or calories from the solids at this point so why make another mess for yourself? I like his thinking :-) We actually did give Will rice cereal this past Sunday evening in an attempt to get him to start sleeping better (more on that later). It did not go well. He really didn't want anything to do with it and had a total meltdown after I kept trying. Probably not a good idea to try something like that in the evening, though, when he's not at his best. I tried again the next morning and made a bit more progress, but he still has no idea what he's supposed to be doing with the stuff and I think the spoon freaks him out a bit. I figure we'll just play around and give him a little bit here and there just to start figuring out what it is, but I don't plan on going full force until 6 months. At that point I'll go full force into veggies and fruits anyway.

As far as sleeping, he has progressively gotten worse. At first, I thought it was because he was hungry, but now I really think it's just that he is waking up and doesn't know how to put himself back to sleep. I think before now he wasn't so aware and so it was easier for him just to fall back asleep. He's so much more aware now, though, that when he wakes up he starts looking for us and gets scared or something and can't get back to sleep. It's really quite horrible. A typical night now he wakes up around 11:30, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00. Not fun. Sometimes I can just give him his pacifier and he goes back to sleep. Sometimes I have to feed him. The good news (sort of) is that I'm now so sleep deprived and tired that I don't have much trouble getting back to sleep after I get up. Unfortunately, I think we're going to have a lesson in self-soothing this weekend (when Tim doesn't have to get up for work) that's going to involve a lot of crying.

4 Months

Will is 4 months old today. I'm sure I sound like a broken record every time he reaches a milestone, but I really can't believe how fast it's going and what a little man he's turning into. He's really a baby now, rather than an infant and he's very interactive. He's grabbing for toys (and other things, such as my hair). He puts everything into his mouth, of course. Toys, his hands, other peoples' hands, bibs, blankets, burp clothes - it all goes right into his mouth. If he's sitting in his swing or bumbo or bouncy seat he watches me while I walk around the house. He smiles and laughs when we talk to him. He reaches his arms out for us. When we go for walks he looks out the side of the stroller and watches as we pass things by rather than staring at me or falling asleep. It's really amazing how aware and interactive he is now. I feel like he's right on the edge of doing a lot of new things. I think in a few weeks he's going to all of the sudden be rolling over and sitting up and babbling and grabbing his feet.

He was really cranky and hungry all of the time for 2 or 3 weeks, but has finally gotten back to himself in the last week or so. I think he was going through a huge growth spurt because it was during that time that he really started being more aware and grabbing for things.

He's still not sleeping through the night, unfortunately. On a good night he goes to bed at 8 or so and then wakes up at 4:00, 6:00 or 7:00, and 9:00. Some nights he's up at 12:30 , 1:00, or 2:00 also, though, and those really suck because then I don't get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep in a row. That's tough. Some people say that if you start giving them cereal it helps with the sleeping. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to start feeding him solids yet, though. They say to start between 4 and 6 months, but I don't necessarily want to be on the early end of that. He's doing well and gaining weight on breastmilk and I don't see any reason to rush into feeding him anything else, especially as I've read lots of things to say that rice cereal has no nutritional value whatsoever. I'd like to limit the time he's on that and really use it just to ease him into solids before putting him on fruits and veggies (which I plan on steaming and pureeing myself). We'll see, though. He does seem to need to eat more often lately and his night sleeping is gradually getting worse so I may break down and at least try the cereal...

Thanksgiving

Will's first Thanksgiving was this week. There isn't a whole lot to report on the baby front as it's such a food-centered holiday and Will is still on liquid and turkey-less diet (although Grandma Carol continues to be irritated that I will not give him rice cereal yet).

It is kind of fun because we found out that I was pregnant right after Thanksgiving last year so it's been a year now that the little man has been in our life in some way. It's been a big year and it's kind of crazy all that has happened. My life is completely different now that it was a year ago and I've had so many life-changing experiences (being pregnant, giving birth, caring for an infant, quitting my job) it's just weird to take a step back and take it all in.

Thanksgiving was a big day for me because I successfully ran the Thanksgiving Day 10k. This was a big milestone for me in my road to getting back into pre-baby shape. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it, given all of the stitches I had and how I felt like I was starting from square one when I started running at 6 weeks. I did it in 1:06, slower than last year but not bad considering I gave birth almost exactly 4 months ago (and how hard it is to find time for myself to run and get to the gym now that I have a baby).

Running this race was also a big deal because I got to run it with my friend Elizabeth. This is the 3rd time we've trained for this race together but only the 1st time we've actually gotten to run it together. Two years ago we met in the training group for the race but got matching stress fractures (how cute, huh?) 3 weeks before the race. After our respective crutch time and physical therapy we trained again for the 2008 race, but Elizabeth got the flu on the day of so I had to run it solo. Then we couldn't train for the 2009 1/2 Pig together because I was pregnant so she did it without me. So it was kind of a big deal that we finally got to run something together. It felt great. Now I just have to be really diligent about keeping up with the running and staying in shape between now and January when the Pig training starts. I'm determined to do this half marathon, damnit. Because if all goes according to plan I'll be knocked up again for the '11 race...

The Bald Spot

So I guess it's pretty common for babies to start losing their hair around this age and Will is apparently no exception. Over the last few weeks he has begun to cultivate quite a large bald spot on the back of his head. The front and top of his hair is definitely getting a bit thinner too, but there is actually a complete lack of hair in one spot on the back of his head, presumably from him moving his head back and forth in his crib and his car seat. As you can see, it looks pretty ridiculous. We laugh about it on a daily basis. What makes the whole thing even more ridiculous looking/amusing is that he still has a tuft of dark hair at the base of his head underneath the bald spot which looks sort of like a mullet. That's right, people, my baby's got business in the front and party in the back...

In addition, the hair that seems to be growing in to replace the darker newborn hair that he had appears to be blond. Which is just totally weird. Tim had lighter hair when he was a baby so I guess it kind of makes sense, but it's still odd. His eyes are still very blue too, so basically the child is going to look nothing like either of us, at least for the first few years. People are going to think we stole him!

So the favorite pastime of friends and family as of late is thinking of funny explanations for Will's oddly shaped bald spot. Here are some of my favorites:

1. I spilled Nair on the back of his head

2. I put a piece of duct tape on the back of his head ripped it off

3. I decided to shave his head, but after taking one swipe at the back changed my mind and stopped

4. It's not a bald spot, it just looks that way because of the toupee sitting on top of his head

Good times. Hopefully the new little blond hair-lets make their way in quickly so we can stop having a laugh at Will's expense :-)

Baptism

Will was baptized this weekend on November 15th. It was a beautiful day. In the 60's and very unseasonable for mid-November. We had him baptized at Blessed Sacrament, which is where we got married and where I went to grade school. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Rich are Will's godparents. Uncle Rich couldn't be here for the baptism, though, so Grandpa Robin stood in for him.

We went to mass before the baptism and then the ceremony was afterwards. There were four children getting baptized at once. Will wore the baptism gown that Uncle Mike, Grandpa Mike, and I all wore. He was very good during the ceremony and the actual baptism. He didn't cry at all.

Afterwards everyone came back to our house for lunch. It was nice day, although Will was a bit fussy through mass and when we got home after the baptism. I've been having a lot of trouble getting him to nap lately. I think he's gotten to an age where he's aware enough of what's going on that he doesn't want to miss anything by going to sleep. But since he's not napping well he's getting really cranky during the day. I'm wondering if he's trying to cut teeth too. He just hasn't really been himself lately.

Will Does Chicago

We went to Chicago, IL this weekend for our friends Dan and Jaimie's wedding. Tim was in the wedding so we had to be there for the rehearsal dinner on Friday and the wedding on Saturday. We brought Will. He stayed with a babysitter the bride found for us both nights. I was nervous both about the car ride up and back and also about leaving him with a babysitter. He's never stayed with anyone other than me or Tim or his grandparents. Everything went great, though. He did wonderfully in the car (not surprising). We had to stop a lot along the way so he could eat and just get out of his car seat for awhile, but that just added some time and everything went fine. The babysitter was great. She was really sweet and did really well with him. He was such a good boy for her. Here's a pic of him in the hotel room :-)

Boo! Will's 1st Halloween

Last Saturday was Will's first Halloween. Of course, without teeth he wasn't able to enjoy the candy quite as much as we would have liked :-) He carved a pumpkin with Mommy during the day. It had a scary ghost on it. Then later we dressed up in our skeleton outfit and went to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Andy's house so that we could eat some yummy chili and hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood. Grandma Carol and Grandpa Mike were there too.

After dinner, Will put on his chili pepper costume and was ready to hand out candy. It wasn't too cold outside so we all sat on the front porch for awhile. Aunt Rachel had decorated the porch with gourds and hay so it was very festive. Mommy and Daddy drank pumpkin beer and ate some of the Halloween candy. It was lots of fun. There were lots of trick-or-treaters, and everyone that came by said hi to Will. After awhile he got cold so we went back inside and played with grandma for awhile.

When we came home we lit the pumpkins on our front porch.

12 Weeks (Almost 3 Whole Months!)

Will turned 12 weeks this week. He just gets more and more fun every day. He's such a great baby. We traveled to Florida a few weeks ago to visit Tim's dad and step-mom and he was wonderful the whole trip. We even got delayed 5 hours on the way down and he was a perfect little angel. He smiles and giggles all the time and gets so excited when he sees Tim and me. It really just melts your heart. Here's his 12 week bear picture. I finally caught him smiling :-)

I think his bottom teeth are starting to come in. It may be awhile before they actually make an appearance, but I think they're working on it. He's rubbing his gums together a lot like they're bothering him and there are little holes in his bottom gums.

In other big news he rolled over from his tummy to his back this week. I thought the first time he did it that it was a fluke because he was so mad I was making him have tummy time :-) He did it again the next night, though. And Tim got to see it that time. He gets up on his arms, rolls his upper body over onto his back and then flips his legs. So cute! I don't think he realizes what he's doing, though. I haven't been able to get him to do it again, and I think it will still be awhile before he's able to flip the other way (back to tummy).

The only thing he's not really doing yet that he should be doing soon is grabbing for things. He focuses on toys and it really looks like he's trying to figure out how to get his hand to them. He just hasn't quite made the connection yet.

He's doing so well with his head that we're going to get the exersaucer out this weekend and see how he does in it. He's getting a bit big for the bouncy seat so we need a new spot for him to sit.

I'm really excited about Halloween. We're going to go to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Andy's house and hand out candy. I haven't really celebrated Halloween for a long time since we don't get trick-or-treaters at our house. The most festive I've gotten over the last few years has been dressing up like Mary Katherine Gallagher for the Run Like Hell 5k two years ago. It's going to be a lot of fun to get to celebrate it this year, especially with my own little guy all dressed up in his costume. We went and picked out pumpkins last weekend and Will was dressed in his little glow-in-the dark skeleton outfit. We got 3 pumpkins, two big ones and one little "spooky" pumpkin for Will. I am going to a pumpkin carving party with some of my friends a few days before Halloween and I will carve one of the big pumpkins then. Tim, Will, and I are going to carve the other big one together sometime this week. I'll be sure to post some pics of the little man with his first pumpkin and also in his little Hot Pepper costume.

My maternity leave was officially over on the day Will turned 12 weeks (Tuesday). As planned, I did not go back. I've started doing a little bit of work for them on the side (2 1/2 hours this week) but it's not really going well because of the political stuff that's going on there, etc. so I'm not hopeful that this will work out well or last too long. I will find something to do, though. I'm starting to investigate doing bookkeeping for small businesses. I have a few contacts to talk to and educate myself and I'm actually starting to get excited about it. I love being home with Will, though. I was worried that I would be bored at home, but I'm actually the happiest I've been in a really long time. Every day I wake up even more thankful that I get to spend it with him.

2 Month Checkup

We went to see Dr. Bishop today and Will is very healthy and looks good. He weighs 12 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 1/2 inches long. He's in he 75th percentile on both. He got 2 shots (a combo Hib, DTaP, Polio and a pneumechocal - sp??) which was less than I thought. I guess the combo shot is new. He also got an oral rotovirus vaccine that he sucked down. He cried so hard! It just broke my heart :-( And after the shots (which made him absolutely scream) he had to get his toe pricked so they could take blood and test his iron levels. Poor little man. I nursed him and that calmed him down. Then he fell asleep in the car and slept for over 2 hours. We gave him some Tylenol. Hopefully he doesn't feel too icky.

Tim didn't end up being able to come because he had to miss work Tuesday to watch Will because I was sick. Very odd. Horrible nausea and then a fever. Never actually threw up, but it was so painful I couldn't take care of the baby. So Grandma Carol came for moral support. I'm a little worried about him getting the shots since I'm sick and I'm still worried about him getting whatever I've got. Dr. B didn't seem to think it was a problem, though. Neither Tim nor the baby have gotten anything yet so crossing my fingers it stays that way. I guess the breastfeeding thing does really help immunity. Tim's not much of a surprise as he's been avoiding me like the plague.

Next check-up's at 4 months.

2 Months

Well the little man is 2 months old today. Hard to believe. I feel like we're finally coming out of the hard part. He's started to sleep longer stretches at night (5 or 6 hours at a time), there's starting to be a bit of a pattern in the eat, play, sleep patterns (although not in their timing). He's more predictable in public. And I just generally feel more confident about what I'm doing. And even the sleep deprivation is worth it when he smiles and laughs and coos at me.

Here's his 8 week bear picture. He's really not as fat as he looks in this picture. It's so hard to get pictures of him sitting up without it looking like he has a million chins. Not that he's not a chunky thing, just not quite as pudgy as he looks here :-)

Overall he is such a GOOD baby, though, that I can't complain. It occurred to me the other day that he has never had an uncontrollable crying fit. Ever. I thought all babies had those. He really only over cries if he's hungry. He also gets fussy when he's tired. But that's it. We're so lucky.

I'm trying really hard to run and get to the gym as much as possible. It's hard, though. I can't take Will to the gym and I can't run with him when the weather is bad. It's rained constantly for the last week and Tim's had stuff in the evenings so he hasn't been able to watch him so I haven't been as active as I would have liked. I'm getting really frustrated because I'm STILL in maternity clothes. It's starting to get cold now and I'm running out of things to wear. I did get into a pair of non-maternity jeans today, but they're 10's. I was an 8 when got pregnant and that's what all of my pants are (other than these particular jeans). I went to the OB's the other day (for yet another follow-up in the ongoing saga of my delivery recovery) and my weight is only about 5 pounds over what it was when I got pregnant. I can't believe that 5 pounds is an entire jeans size. I'm starting to get nervous that my shape has changed in such a way that I may never be an 8 again. I don't really care if I'm a 10 over an 8 as long as I'm in good shape, but the fact remains that I have an entire wardrobe built on being an 8. Thousands of dollars in pants, jeans, and suits that I won't be able to wear. Even my running shorts don't fit right. Having to replace all those close would really suck, especially given our upcoming financial situation.

Speaking of the financial situation I went in a officially told my boss I'm not coming back full time last week. It went better than expected, but I am really hoping to be able to do some consulting for them (both from a sanity and financial standpoint) and I feel like I'm not really getting anywhere with them on that. She was pretty positive at first, but has not seemed like she's on board since and I can't get a straight answer out of her. It's getting irritating. Oh well, everything works out for the best and I still think I am making the best decision by staying home with him. Something will work out and if it doesn't then we will just have to cut back on our lifestyle a bit. It really would be nice to have something to kind of mentally challenge me, though, and make me feel like I haven't dropped out of the adult world completely.

The good news is that I have been able to keep myself fairly busy on the social front. I go to lunch once or twice a week with other people (including other moms like my friend Beth from running group). I definitely need to build up more of a stay-at-home new mom network of friends. I went to a La Leche League meeting a few weeks ago. There were 3 moms there. They were really nice, but all into home births, attachment parenting, home schooling, cloth diapers, etc and I don't really think that's my crowd. I'm going to go to a StrollerFit class with Holly Duffy this week so maybe I'll meet some other moms there. It's in Hyde Park, though, so it may not be my crowd either.

I have been able to get back into running more quickly than anticipated, which is good. I did 3 miles last night which is great since I've only been running for 2 1/2 weeks. I was slow as molasses, but at least I'm getting the mileage in. The Reggae Run is this Saturday and I'm planning on running it, although I'm sure I'll have to walk a fair amount since it's a VERY hilly course. I've done it the last 2 years and have always been proud that I did not walk at all either time. Guess I have a pretty good excuse this time, though. At least it will be fun.

Will's 2 month checkup is this Thursday. I'm excited to see how big he's gotten and what percentile he's in. I feel like he's really long. I am not excited for the 3 or 4 shots he has to get, though. Tim's leaving work early to come with me because I think it will break my heart too much to do it alone.

6 Weeks

Time sure is flying. Everyone said that it would, but you really have no idea what that means until you're in it. Will is getting so big! I wish I knew how much he weighed (we still have another few weeks before we go back to the pediatrician, though). I'm guessing it's in the 10-11 pound range at this point. I can definitely feel it when I'm holding him! He's also getting a lot pudgier. His little cheeks have filled out and his hands and feet aren't so thin.

Here's his 5 week bear picture.

He's started to smile for real now when he sees me or Tim. It's absolutely precious! I've been trying to get pictures of it, but have not really been successful yet.

We're getting out more, which is good. Last Saturday my friend Katie came over and Tim, her, me and the baby walked across the street to the mall, ate lunch, walked around, and sat outside at the Pub while Tim had a beer. It was a gorgeous day and it was so nice to get out. Will did such a good job. I had to feed him at the Pub, but that wasn't too big of a deal. I think I'm just going to have to get over my uncomfortableness with feeding him in public. If not, I'm never going to get to leave the house for any period of time. At this point he eats every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. That's from the beginning of a feeding, though, and he eats anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes. That means that I really only have 1-2 hours to get out, do what I need to do, and get home. I ordered a "Hooter Hider" nursing cover the other day. It's supposed to be here next week. Hopefully that will help. It clips around your neck and has an opening at the top so you can look down and see the baby. I hate using a blanket because it's always falling off and I can't see the baby. The other option is a sling carrier. You supposedly can nurse in those pretty privately. Plus, you can nurse while you're standing or walking around. That would be great! I could get so much more done at home! They're so expensive, though. Like $65. That's ridiculous for a piece of cloth with some metal rings!

The baby's sleeping a bit more at night now, which is good. He had 4 days in a row where he slept from 10 or 10:30 until 4am. I got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was heaven! Last night he was back to waking up at 1am, though. Hopefully he'll get on more of a schedule soon.

I went in for my 6 week check up earlier this week and got cleared to run. Yippee! I went with my friend Elizabeth on Tuesday night while Tim stayed home with Will. We were able to run a little over a mile off the bat. We did a 3.25 mile loop, but walked parts of it. Not bad, actually. It's definitely going to take awhile to get back to where I was, though. I went out with him in the jogging stroller this morning. That was a lot tougher. I couldn't really run for more than 6 or 7 minutes at a time because I was getting too tired. I figure between the weight of the stroller, the car seat, and the baby I'm probably pushing upwards of 25 pounds so it's not surprising that it's harder. Plus, it's more challenging running without being able to pump your arms. I'm going to have to get used to it, though. At least it's a good workout. My hope is that the more stroller running I do the better I'll do when I run on my own. I'm going to try to run without him 2 days a week (while he has some daddy time), run with him one day a week, and then get to the gym 1 or 2 days. I can also do some ab and core stuff at home. I just really need to get back into shape. I can't fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes yet and it's very frustrating. There's about 8 pounds that are sticking around and won't go away. I'm getting tired of these maternity clothes and once it gets colder I'm not going to have anything to wear if I don't get my butt in gear. I also REALLY want to do a 1/2 marathon on the spring and if I'm going to be up for that in May I need to start getting into shape now.

3 Weeks Old

I can't believe he's already 3 weeks old (halfway to 4 weeks almost)! Three weeks really isn't that long to have had him, but I really can hardly even imagine what life was like without him.

I'm planning on trying to take weekly pictures of him with this bear to show how big he's getting. I didn't do too well with the pregnant pictures, though, so I'm not promising anything... It's hard to get pictures of him because he's never still unless he's sleeping. He's such a little wiggler!

He's starting to be a lot more alert and know more of what's going on around him. Noises have started startling him (he used to sleep through anything and not be bothered). He definitely recognizes the sound of my voice. If he's crying and I start talking to him he usually calms down a little bit (at least momentarily). He'll also look at me intently like he's listening to what I'm saying. He smiles and giggles a lot now too. It's unintentional, of course, and doesn't really mean anything, but it's really cute. He has a gorgeous little smile. It will be so much fun when he's really smiling at me. I can't wait to see what his personality is like!

He's still eating a lot, but not quite as much. He goes almost 2 hours now, which is better. Plus, I've started going out more. We run little errands (Today we went to Wal-Mart to buy diapers. I hate Wal-Mart.) and go for walks. We walked to Panara and had breakfast this morning. It was a gorgeous day! I can't wait to him to be a little older and for fall to come so we can go out more (it's a bit too hot most days now) and we can start jogging :-)

Mom came over yesterday and tried to give him a bottle and it worked really well. He took it great! The problem is that I'm having difficulty getting enough milk to fill up a bottle at this point. The pumping is not going very well. I'm not sure if it's a supply problem or that I'm doing something wrong pumping-wise. It's very frustrating and I don't really know who to ask about it. I guess I should be thankful that the breastfeeding itself is going well. At least now I know that once I do get the pumping down he'll take bottles from other people so I can leave him (and also so that Tim can help with the feedings). Ideally, I would like to get enough every day so that Tim can give him a bottle in the evening. I think it would be good for them to bond that way. I think breastfeeding is a wonderful thing in terms of convenience, bonding for mom and baby, and nutrition, but it really makes it hard for dads to bond with their babies. I'm really struggling with that because I feel like Tim doesn't know the baby nearly as well as I do. Part of that is because I'm home with him all day, of course, but part of it is because he spends so much time eating and Tim can't be a part of that.

38 Weeks 4 Days... and in Labor

We finally took my 38 week picture 4 days into the week. It was a good thing too because I was having contractions which turned out to be the real thing. Here's what I looked like in the last few hours of being pregnant.



I had been having cramping all day at work but wasn't sure if it was anything. It did get progressively worse throughout the day, but I still didn't know what it was since I really didn't know what to look for. It was still 10 days before my due date! Also, I had been feeling weird things for weeks anyway. By about 12:30 in the morning it was clear that I was in labor, though. It was getting more painful, but still not anything unbearable. We started timing them and by 1:30 or so we were pretty sure they had been about 5 minutes apart for a solid hour so I called the doctor. Dr. Gerwe ended up being on call, which we were excited about because we had wanted him to deliver the baby. He seemed pretty laid back about what I was telling him so I took my time getting ready. I took a shower, had a snack, packed my bag. By the time we were ready to leave the contractions were only about 3 minutes apart and getting more painful so I started rushing Tim because I wanted to get to the hospital. When we got there and Dr. Gerwe checked me he determined I was already 9 cm. Crazy! It hadn't even been that painful up until that point. It took him awhile to find my cervix and I honestly thought it was because I wasn't dilated at all. (that's how little pain I was in). Of course, the reason he couldn't find it is because it was almost gone! Anyway, the whole thing progressed REALLY quickly from there. We walked into the hospital at 2:55am and Will was born at 4:02am. Needless to say, there was no time for an epidural or any pain killers of any kind. I definitely didn't set out to do the whole natural childbirth thing, but it really wasn't as horrible as I had imagined. I'm sure part of that is because I was only in serious pain for about an hour or so. People with slower labors that have to feel what I felt in the last hour for several hours must be crazy if they choose to do that! Anyway, I will be getting to the hospital earlier and opting for an epidural for baby #2.



So at 4:02 on the morning of July 28th William Michael Adair was born. He was 7 pounds 9 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long, and absolutely precious! I'm biased, of course, but I think he's one of the cutest new babies I've ever seen. He has a perfectly little shaped head since he came so quickly. I'm still amazed at the whole thing. It's really absolutely incredible that Tim and I made this little person and now we are parents.

It's definitely been an adjustment having him home, though. I always knew that taking care of a baby was hard (especially the lack of sleep thing), but this is even harder than I imagined. It doesn't help that I'm stuck in the house resting because of some complications that I had, either. I feel pretty lonely and isolated. And it's frustrating because I feel like I do nothing all day other than sit around and feed the baby. I can't get anything done around the house. That was fine at first, but now that I'm 2 1/2 weeks in I'm started to get pretty frustrated with it. I'm hoping as he gets a little older he won't need to eat so often. It's definitely worth it, though. He's just wonderful.

Here he is at 1 week old.

Tim went and picked up our stroller (also my running stroller, obviously) after Will was born. Molly quickly took over it as her favorite napping location. She even put a dryer sheet in it one day (she carries them all over the house) so I know she's laid serious claim to it.

Drumroll Please....

Well the nursery is finally done. Or at least as complete as it is going to get before the baby gets here, I think. Tim attached the changing pad to the dresser and installed a dimmer on the light switch (although it makes a weird buzzing noise which concerns me and I think Grandpa Mike is going to have to assess the situation on that one), and I finished painting the murals. We still need some more stuff on the walls (pics, etc) but I'll fill in with those once the baby gets here. I also need a little side table to put next to the glider for the lamp and things I may need while nursing. I'm not having much luck finding one, though. Even the cheapy ones at Target are $100. After all the $ we've spent getting ready for this baby I'm not about to drop $100 on a stupid little table. We'll see...

Anyway, I think the murals turned out really cute. I really like the lion and giraffe, especially. The only one I'm not totally pleased with is the monkey. He's a little gimpy. I just think the structure of that shape was not as suited to this kind of thing as the others. He's still cute, though, in his own little way, and I like how he hangs over the dresser/changing table so he's sticking around. Also, the thought of painting anymore makes me want to cry so, sorry baby, you're pretty much stuck with it :-)

I also like the little giraffe and zebra hooks hanging next to the changing table

(courtesy of Aunt Rachel). They're very cute and I think they'll come in handy.

I have also included a picture of the over-priced closet shelves that Tim installed. They turned out really well and I think it's going to be a big help to have them.

The only really major things left to get done are going to the firehouse to get the car seat installed, picking up the stroller when it comes in this week, and packing the hospital bag. Everything's been washed and assembled. Now it's just waiting...

We've been slacking on the weekly pics of me again. It's on the to-do list to take the 38 week (+ 3 days) picture tonight and I will post. I'm definitely getting huge. Starting to worry about how big this baby's going to be if it keeps 'cooking' for 2 more weeks!

Very Late-in-Coming Shower Pictures

Since pregnant brain kicked in and I forgot to take any pictures at the shower for my mom's side of the family, Rachel (the hostess of said shower) was kind enough to provide me with some pics so that I could share.

Shower with the Kirkwoods

Mom and Rach had a shower for me today for my dad's side of the family. It was very nice. We had great food, very yummy desserts, and beautiful flowers. It was a small group so we got a lot of time to visit and chat. I also got some wonderful gifts. Lots of useful stuff like onesies, baby laundry detergent, hangers, etc. It's perfect timing because we're just finishing off the nursery (the furniture came yesterday and Tim installed our closet shelving today) so it's a great time to start filling in with all of those little (but very necessary) things. I think the only really big items left are the car seat and stroller. We'll be going to get those along with all the little stuff we still need next weekend. After that I think I'll be all set other than just washing clothes and getting a bit better organized. Still a few weeks to get that done, though. Here's some shower pictures.