Settling In

I feel that I can say I have settled in to my new role as a mom of two. Jonathan just turned three weeks old and between my husband's few days off, grandmothers cycling through for another week and my sister visiting for nine days, I am just starting to care for both boys all by myself. I am grateful for the help I received (especially from my husband in the mornings and evenings) which allowed me to spend many more quiet moments with the new baby than I expected. My husband is started a new job, technically his old job, next week and won't be working from home anymore so that may be a whole new definition of "long day" for me.

As most moms know, Jonathan wakes up for his first morning feeding around 5:30-6am and then goes back to sleep for a few hours…unless big brother wakes him up. This allows me to be with William once he wakes up between 6-6:30am, watch 30 minutes of one of his shows and have breakfast. I have been trying to run laundry, clean up, etc during this time because it is William's best time of day in terms of being content playing on his own and being calm. As far as sleep goes, the rest of the day is just a toss up. If they both nap at the same time, I try to also. I am very grateful for the sleep I do get at night because there have been several days that I have not napped and felt pretty good. Yes, I am always in bed by 10pm, usually 9pm :). Two nights ago it was 8:40pm!

A big change this time around is that when I feed Jonathan at this first morning feeding, sometimes I get him dressed for the day (in his first outfit at least) because sometimes we leave for an activity before he wakes up. He is not a big fan of the car. William slept all the time in the car but Jonathan spends more time awake and isn't always happy. So this prevents me from waking him to change him. Yes I have brought him out in pajamas, but it has been so hot that he would cry from being uncomfortable the last few days. Jonathan is sleeping in our room which is where I keep him in the morning and try to keep William away. I wish I had taught him the concept of whispering before the baby was born…

So we are doing the activities we used to do before baby, but I am not putting pressure on myself to stay out all morning, etc., just taking it day by day.

More pictures coming soon!

Only in Maryland...

…do one year olds start learning how to eat crabs!

I think Grandma loved it as much as William!

Happy Birthday to my Husband

Today, this little boy (now man) is celebrating a birthday. We are having a seafood-something dinner since he ordered chicken parmesan on Sunday while out to eat and that was my original dinner of choice, and a cake with our family.

It will be the second birthday that our son will be celebrating with his Daddy. This is still one of my favorite photos of them.

This was Brad's birthday last year. William slept through half of dinner and woke up for cake and gifts…typical!

Happy birthday Brad -- we love you!

Fourteen Months

Today William is 14 months old! I feel like he has gone through so many changes since the beginning of May that it deserved a blog post. By the way, every month I write a letter to him in my journal which then goes into his baby book. I have been vigilant about keeping up with this because it is a nice summary of major activities for the month (1st vacation, sleeping through the night, etc) and I also talk about developmental steps (words, climbing, etc).

Unfortunately, May was a month of illness for our little guy. At the beginning of the month he developed bronchiolitis which meant nebulizer breathing treatments, an antibiotic and a steroid. Just last week he had a fever of 103+ degrees for three days (peaked at 103.9) and then he developed a rash all over his upper body that took five days to vanish as mysteriously as it showed up.

We went on a five-day vacation to Hilton Head, South Caroline for AUntie Blair's wedding and made an overnight stop in Charleston to see the Larsons. Their daughter Brynnleigh was born the day before William so it was fun to see them play together.

Despite being pretty sick twice this month, we are back to our "normal schedule." I am now waking him from his morning nap after one hour since he was waking at 5:30am for the day which is just too early for me (and him, even if he doesn't realize it). Now he is waking up at 6:45am, napping 9:30-10:30am and then again after lunch from 1:30-3:30/4:30pm and going to bed just before 8pm.

Pretty much all of his summer clothes are 18m (it helps that The Children's Place does 12-18m so they fit now and still will in August), except bottoms are still 12m because he has a little waist. He is in a size 4 shoe and I just bought him a 4.5W from Stride Rite.

William can say several words clearly: Momma, Dat, Nana, shoe, cat, ba-ba, ball, tractor, truck and car. He says "side" for outside which is his favorite place. He also makes animal sounds of a cow, pig, sheep, dog, and goat. There are several follow direction actions he understands even thought he can't say the words. My favorites are: Get your shoes; Let's go outside (he goes to the door); Bring Momma the _____; Give me kisses; Let's watch Sesame Street (goes to the TV); Let's go upstairs/downstairs; I need help with clothes (goes to the laundry room). When you tell him to share, he hands over whatever he is holding. We taught him this for toys, but it has worked well for cell phones and keys too. One of his favorite actions of mine is when he walks up to me when I'm sitting on the floor, puts his legs over mine to sit on my lap and then gives me a big hug :)

He just mastered climbing down the stairs on his own, sliding/stepping down on his belly. This is nice since we have never installed a gate at the top of the stairs, only the bottom. Believe it or not, he never tried to go down without supervision, and now if he tries to, hopefully he will go down the "right way" and not get hurt.

Happy fourteen months little boy!

William's 1st Birthday Party!

Last Saturday we had a ONE-DERFUL birthday party for my sweet baby toddler boy. I have alot of fun and easy projects to share with you since I had been planning this fete for some time, but for now, here are a few fun photos.

If you want to see more, especially of this cutie and her sisters, read my friend Holly's post about the party

Warmer Weather Where We Are

Up until this weekend, Maryland had been experiencing April-like weather in January. This is odd, but especially odd since last year we had two snowstorms nicknamed Snowmageddon that dropped 18+ inches of snow in my front yard.

William and I took full advantage of the warm weather by going to the Zoo, the park and playing outside, which was really his first time doing so. He can't walk on his own yet, but loves pushing his fire truck around, so we bring it out with us. Keeps him from crawling or being in the boring stroller. As the weather has gotten -30 degrees again, I find myself sick, sinus congestion and sore throat. So, the rest of this post will be photos of our cute boy!

The Wonder of Christmas

I know two weeks have gone by, but I had to share pictures of William's first Christmas with you! Really, we had a multi-day celebration. 

We were at my in-laws for Christmas Eve for gifts, church and lobster. Unfortunately, William missed dinner because he crashed on a bedroom floor right after getting sick from his dinner (not lobster). Sad he wasn't at the table with us, but that meant we all got to eat at the same time! We all got some fun and thoughtful gifts including books, a ride-on zebra and a play farm. Those were William's of course ;).

Santa came to our house that night and my in-laws came over to see William open all of his presents at home. He got an airplane, Baby Einstein octopus, books, Melissa & Doug band-in-a-box (a hit, no pun intended), a drum and some other great toys. He just wanted to eat the paper. Figures. I got my Silhouette Cameo and a romantic night in Annapolis with my hubby which is very sweet. I got his marathon "stuff" framed from his first marathon that was in 2010 and a few small gifts.

After a delicious made by my husband the chef, we drove about an hour to Brad's cousins house which is where we celebrate Christmas with my mother-in-laws family. Its a big group, but not overwhelming (at least not after 5 years) since we see everyone pretty frequently. William was given even more toys. Oh boy.

On December 26th William and I drove to Connecticut to see my mom and sister. My brother would have been there too, but he took a job with the NBA in New Orleans so we didn't see him this trip. So on Monday afternoon he got to tear open more gifts! A wagon full of mega-blocks and the ride-on fire engine were his favorite along with a rainstick, cell phone, etc.

Everyone who told me Christmas is fun as a parent, you were right! I was up one hour before William on Christmas morning, anxious for him to wake up and see his presents. I know next year he will understand more since he will be 21 months old, so we also have to make sure he knows that Christmas isn't just a time for presents.

Now We Have Everything

There was a quote I found while pregnant that I wrote in my baby journal:
First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything.


As I parent, this is so true. 6 months ago we welcomed our son, William Michael, into our lives and had no idea what lie ahead. Would he be happy with us as his parents? Allow us to sleep? Like to smile and be held by lots of people? We didn't know the sex of the baby before delivery, but I always told people I felt it was a boy because I could only think of boys names and I considered that a sign. My husband was sure it was a girl as we both of our mothers. Well, we know what happened there ;)

Happy half birthday little man! Now Momma has to start thinking about your 1st birthday party because the months sure do fly by spending my days with you!!

Gone but Not Forgotten

Where have I been? Well, I was in Connecticut for one week, came back for three days during which my husband had Lasik surgery and was then off to Pennsylvania for 2 1/2 days. Now I am (finally) home and I don't want to leave! Don't get me wrong, I had fun on our trips, but this house needs some attention!

William and I drove 7 hours to northern Connecticut because my close friends were getting married. This is the couple whose gift I mentioned in an earlier post and will discuss in a future post. We left on Tuesday and my husband joined us Friday-Sunday and then we headed home the following Tuesday. Whew! It was the first time I was alone with the baby so long around the clock, but we stayed with some good friends and saw my family so I had some help for which I am grateful.

The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun! The ceremony was at the Old State House and the reception was at The Hartford Club. Since these are friends from high school who started "liking" each other 12 years ago, I saw a lot of old friends which made it even more of a celebration. These two are made for each other and I am thrilled that they are now husband and wife!

The night of the wedding was my first overnight away from William. He stayed at my mom's house with her and my sister and my mom even had a little "meet and greet" with her friends before he went to bed. I know it bothered me more than it bothered him that we were apart! And no, I didn't sleep in the next day...I just couldn't wait to get up and go see him. 

We brought the baby to a small zoo at Forest Park since the weather cooled off a little on our last day in town. He is always watching things that move (me, toys, our cat, etc) so I thought he would like the animals. He was pretty attentive for a four month old and I had him in the Snugli carrier most of the afternoon so I had my hands free to shoo away any unwelcome animals.

So, we are back to the real world and our routine and I will be posting about the special wedding gift soon!