Party Time

This was a busy weekend. There were several very fun events we were invited to this weekend. All were fun and exciting in their own way. But Saturday, woah. We were tired after Saturday. Saturday morning, we got up early to go to a subdivision garage sale (okay, I lied. William got us up early and we decided to go to the garage sale). Then we ran errands and William napped. After lunch, we went out to the visit my club from the middle school during their annual fund raiser Peanut Days. It was so much fun to see the kids and hang out for a little while and everyone enjoyed seeing William. Then, we were off to our friend, Charlotte's first birthday party. We got to eat fabulous cake and watch Charlotte demolish her first birthday cupcake before it was time to head off. William decided to nap in the car and were able to attend a "the deck is finished" party for one of John's coworkers. It was fun to finally meet some of John's coworkers I hear about all the time as well as enjoy the deck.

William was in serious need of a nap outside of his carseat and some time on the floor to crawl around by this point, so we came back home. I woke William at 7 in order to attend the 50th birthday celebration for one of my coworkers called "lizapalooza" (the party, not the coworker). It was wonderful to visit with everyone and catch up on all the newest developments. William had a great time until he stopped having a great time and then we took him home. A few minutes later, he was conked out in his bed and our lovely neighbor came over to listen to him snooze for us. Yes, we left him with someone for a few hours and we went back to the party. It was amazing and we both agreed we weren't (that) worried about him. We also agreed on the way home that William is an amazing baby who is perfect for us. Who else would nap on the fly, eat a meal in the dark in the car, nurse at strange houses and go go go all day long. Even with all that going on, he still managed to smile on demand, giggle like crazy, crawl everywhere, spill every drink in my hand and charm all the ladies. What a great kid!

William's newest accomplishment:climbing. He so far has figured out how to climb into the dishwasher and onto the top of our coffee table.


William's lizapalooza onesie. Spit up and all. John and I both have matching lizapalooza shirts also. Maybe Jeff will send us a picture?

Other highlights from this weekend (to help me remember when this stuff happened, feel free to skip): crawling with toys in his mouth and lots more babbling. We also had a breakthrough in the solid feedings. We finally have him eating the solid baby foods again with gusto and delight. However, he is really uninterested in going more solid that the pureed stuff. We've had success with the puffs and cheerios and nothing else. No on the green beans, cooked carrots, peaches, pears, bananas, watermelon and crackers. I was feeling so frustrated about wasting so much food after he squishes it up and drops it. Or puts it in his mouth and spits it out again. I'm starting to feel like he is going to still be eating out a jar when he turns 2. On a whim, I made some toast today and cut it up into tiny pieces to put on his tray. Holey Moley did he make a mess out of that - but HE ATE IT. I didn't even have to put it in his mouth! He did all the work! Is this a breakthrough? I sure hope so...

Cute stuff William is learning

It would appear the gross motor skills are slowing down a little bit (no, I didn't say HE was slowing down. If anything he is crawling even faster). William is still learning and picking up some new things all the time. Over the weekend, I caught John teaching William how to do this:

The bonus of the toilet paper roll is that the toilet is RIGHT there. It is so LOUD when he bangs on it- he loves it!

Crawling while holding the t.p. in his hands

Now, every time we are in the bathroom, he heads straight for the toilet paper roll. I'm sure he would have figured it out eventually -but thanks Daddy!

His other favorite pastime is pulling himself up on you. No problem unless you are wearing pants that have an elastic waistband. Consider yourself warned.

Yesterday when I was feeding William, he started smacking his lips together. Sort of like..."Mmmm....good [smack]". Either that or it sounds like he is blowing kisses. I'm not sure what he is trying to say/do, but I'm calling them kisses. Just 'cause I can.

He is also babbling a LOT more than before and I feel like he is trying to imitate words when he hears them. Yesterday we had an eye appointments and I was trying to entertain William with a container of Cheerios. He somehow managed to grab a whole handful and then drop them all on the ground. I said "Uh oh" and William stopping his wriggling and looked back at me and said something that sounded a lot like "Uh oh". Both John and I stopped what we were doing to look at him. He just kind of giggled, but wouldn't do it again. Maybe because I refused to dump the equivalent of half of box of Cheerios on the floor of the doctor's office. The talking is coming though...!

Out Takes from 8 Months

There are always a few pictures that don't turn out exactly as I envisioned in my mind. Lately, there are more than ever as William does not care to hold still for even 1/100th of a second. So, here are some of the funnier ones from yesterday :) Enjoy!

Tough guy! Who is this kid and where is my sweet baby?

A cute blanket to slow him down? He will cover the critical area of his body.

New skill: Fake smile on display

Okay...this one looked terrible and then I cropped it. It might be one of the better ones now. But, he is moving my backdrop and chewing on it!


John painted the underpart of the deck this weekend. I'm too lazy to rotate this picture. You'll have to turn your head. It actually looks really nice when you look at it from about every other angle (and you can't see the other unpainted portions). I'm not sure why he didn't take a picture like that. Now it just looks like it isn't completely done.


Ewww...one of several very large spiders outside our kitchen window. The scale is hard to see, but the spider is a little larger than a half dollar coin.

8 Months Old!

I was packing up totes with William's "old" baby clothes. He sure has come a long way! Happy 8 Months together baby! Have you only been with us for 8 months? Here are some pictures from Mama's photo shoot today...

We tried something different with the blue background today. I kind of like it, although it has a shadow problem!

Look at all those teeth! I'm pretty sure tooth #8 will be here any day with the way he is chewing!

Eating the blanket is more fun that smiling for mama

Snuggled up with his blanket

Just before William turned 8 months old, he mastered the fake smile. Here it is on display in all its cheesy fakeness.

Playing with his Fisher Price credit card. Of course he has a credit card. He was born with it like all Americans nowadays.

He thinks he is pretty hot stuff sitting by himself in this chair!

He really is smiling. Not big, but smiling nonetheless...

Uh, well, I'm not sure what this look is. But, it sure looks grown up :( The other reason I don't like this picture: he looks like he has monstrous feet! (he does have big feet, just not THIS big, promise).

Ish-Da (pronouce with heavy Norweigen accent)

Ish-Da*. Who SAYS that? My mom, my grandma, and great grandma....and now, so do I. Apparently, when you see your son standing in front of the toilet with his mouth open to chew on the seat, a switch turns on in your head and the words come out of your mouth. The switch stays permanently on. Just warning you.

* I don't know the precise meaning of ishda or where it technically comes from. Or even if it is technically a word anywhere. But, my Norwegian descent female family members use it to express disgust or general grossness of situations.

Hello, How are You?

Well, it turns out I update my blog most of the time during naps. And this week, William has decided that napping is for babies. In the middle of last week, he decided it was way more fun to be crabby and cry a whole lot than to succumb to the evil nap. Then, he decided he didn't like eating any solid foods. Or even nursing all that much. To top it off over the weekend he decided to run a fever and stop sleeping through the night. I knew something was up, but tried to wait it out. Really, I did try. This afternoon when William was wailing away in his high chair after refusing his123129483463592385th cereal feeding since last week, I gave up and call the doctor's office. I was a little worried about bringing him in because of stupid insurance companies, but decided to risk owing the doctor's office $15576879687985.59 and made an appointment. The good news is William has some sort of viral infection in his throat and he isn't contagious anymore. This is good for several reasons. First, it means that he is almost better and I might get my sweet baby boy back soon. Second, it means that I can maybe return to the Y tomorrow and use their child care. Not being able to drop him off has been really cramping my style. Because, you know, it is really all about me.

The bad news is that we had to have a "sick" baby appointment in order to get this news. And, there was a lot of scary stuff going on in the waiting room. A lot of spots, coughing and other mysterious illnesses. After the appointment, I was relieved that this was not announced "teething pain". He is legitimately sick - it is possible that I do know what I am doing here. The doctor was quite impressed with his "mouthful of teeth" and his "cute observing eyes" during the proceedings.

In other news, John painted? stained? our deck this weekend while I played the sick baby games. William learned how to make a fantastic lip noise with his mouth that sounds like he is ready to play the trumpet. Or possibly the trombone or tuba. We will have to show it to Grandpa for a musical assessment to determine which instrument this lip noise is most suited towards.

I'm tired - off to bed so I can do it all again tomorrow...

New Stuff!

I was so busy trying to get you caught up, I haven't had time to tell you about all the new cute stuff William is doing (and some not so cute).

Crawling like crazy! And fast!

Tooth #7 broke through Sunday (bottom, right side)

Loves LOVES!! his books. Will actually sit still and LISTEN for an entire book or two. Turns the pages of his books. Will actually look at books by himself when he is playing -although many times upside down. Several times he has been upset and crying. When we opened up a book to read to him, he settled right down. I must say, this brings a tear to this teacher's eyes.

He has rediscovered his hands and their usefulness. He has found the opening and shutting of his hands to be extraordinary. So amazing that he can sit and watch his hands open and close for several seconds at a time. We call this phenomena: The sound of one hand clapping. He also opens and shuts the hand several times before grabbing an object as if to reassure himself that it is all working. We've done a little work to develop this movement into "Hello!" and "Goodbye" waves without much success so far.

Pincher grasp! It is finally here, sort of. In the last week William has finally noticed the smaller sized beads on some of his toys. He is also getting some foods to his mouth with about 83.4% accuracy. Every day it gets quicker and quicker. It has been amazing to watch it develop almost over night.


Well, that is all for now....

goodnight,
the heidts

The Great Wild North (pronounced Nor-T)

I'm playing catch up here. There are several new posts - you'll need to go down to see them all.
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We left for Rochester on Wednesday afternoon. William was a trooper in the car - we were a little worried as he is more mobile now if he wouldn't be as content to sit for as long in the car. We had a few little fussy times, but overall it went wonderfully. William enjoying visiting with the Grandmas and Grandpas very much. On Thursday evening, William discovered he could climb the stairs! He spent a good chunk of the rest of our visit practicing this skill whenever he had a spare moment of free time (whenever anyone wasn't looking). Not to worry, he was always spotted very carefully from both the top and bottom of the stairs.

Playing with Grandpa and the frog puppet

Going Up!

We made it!

Friday was a big day for us! We got to see a lot of different people. On Friday, William got to meet his new cousins for the first time. We had to be careful as William is still sporting a runny nose. William came with us for some quick pictures and then he went back to hang out with Grandpa Kevin. The babies were beautiful as expected and it was so fun to hold them and snuggle them close! John and I both got to hold BOTH babies, although John did not attempt to two baby hold. We enjoyed visiting with Mike while the babyfest was going on.

Cousins! (L-R) Elena, Alexander & William held by Mike and John


Mike and his babies! Elena & Alexander

Me practicing my 2 baby hold.

Friday afternoon, we had another special treat! My friend from high school (Robyn) came with her 1 year old baby (Jacob) to visit. It was fun to see her again and catch up as well as watch our boys play together. Okay, well sort of play at the same time in the same room. Jacob is now walking and William loved watching him run all over the place.

Me, William, Robyn & Jacob. Why do we always wait to take pictures at the end? Neither boy is very happy to sit still for a picture here.

Friday evening, John and I met Jessica and Chris for dinner while Grandpa and Grandma babysat. It was delightful to go without the diaper bag or worry about high chairs not to mention the adult conversation!

Saturday we went out for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma and then back to the store where Grandpa works to help him out. William liked the egg shaker toys and the big drums the best! It was REALLY busy when we were there, so we didn't get to do the fun stuff like sit in Grandpa's chair or play with the cash register. Next time.

Playing drums at Grandpa's store

Playing with Grandpa Heidt's dump truck on Saturday afternoon

Saturday evening, Aunt Megan came for dinner to visit. William really liked seeing Megan again. We all ate dinner together with William in his high chair! Megan and William read stories and played with toys before William had to go to bed.

Reading a new book with Aunt Megan

Building....something with Aunt Megan

Sunday morning, we went for brunch at Valentinos with Aunt Kaye and Scott. We were impressed that we got to visit with them as their flight from Germany came in LATE on Saturday night! No pictures from that as our camera was packed up in the car!

Hip -Hippo- Hurray

We picked up a new push toy from one of the neighbors earlier this week. It is pretty cute. Within the first few moments of having it in the house, William safely pulled up on it and took a few steps. He wasn't sure he liked when it moved so he stood up, took a few steps and then would sit down again.

Pushing on your knees isn't as scary

Tastes good!

Exer-baby! Also works for ballet and squats.

Oh! And the yellow handle part folds down and then you can sit on it. How fun is that? Especially when Daddy is pushing you?

Our Bruiser

Playing catch up here after returning from a wild trip to the great North. Now that William is more mobile (read: faster), he is getting himself into more trouble than mommy can keep up with. Our little bruiser. There are 3 bruises on his forehead (above R eye, 2 in an X shape over his left eye). He has a bump on his chin and several scratches under his eyes. Looks like we should invest in a face mask. Or a padded room.

Why I love my dad, Rochester

Just a quick post with two things I need to tell you. We are leaving for Rochester tomorrow afternoon sometime and returning on Sunday. I called my parents to inform them that they would be hosting us starting tomorrow when I happened to mention to my dad I was on a quest. A quest for a brownie recipe.

It all started on a cool night last weekend. The chocolate cravings were kicking in and it was actually cool enough to turn lights on as well as the oven inside the house without getting heat stroke. So, I pulled out the brownie mix. On the side of the box, I spied a recipe for "4 star brownies". I am unable to resist such things. Brownies good enough for the 4 star rating, but not enough for 5? Irresistible. So I made them and they were excellent. So good, I would like to have them again. Alas, the box is now gone with the recycling last week. So I've googled and searched and can't find the stupid recipe anywhere. As a result, I was out at the grocery store picking up a few things which included another box of brownies only if it had my recipe on the side. I went to THREE different stores without any 4 star brownies in sight.

That brings us back to this evening while making reservations at the McGarry Motel. Turns out my dad was at the grocery store. I told him the whole brownie deal and he promised to take a turn through the brownie aisle. I didn't hold much hope as 1) I couldn't find the mix and 2) I didn't think he was actually listening for part of the story. I was very VERY happy when my dad called back later to confirm the kind of brownies I was looking for : he has them! Hurray!

Hmmm....after reading over this I have to apologize. I promise an update tomorrow with pictures. Remind me to show you the neat new walking toy the neighbor gave us!

Ma Ma Ma

John put up a link to William doing some babbling on Saturday. I was worried no one would notice it and I think it is darn cute. There is a link on the left side of the page, but here is another one for you (same thing) William saying "Ma Ma Ma". Very exciting, although I know he doesn't know what what it means yet.

We've been working really hard at pulling up this weekend. William no longer requires something to hang onto when standing up. He just needs something to help himself balance as he pushes up (walls, cabinet doors, people's legs, etc). A few times in the last couple of days he has even let go with both hands and stood unassisted without any help or leaning on anything! WOW! Very exciting for us and a lot scary also! We are also fighting what looks like might be our first cold. Not bad to make it almost 8 months without getting sick once. So far, we just are sporting a runny nose which he refuses to let me wipe. Ick. I think it is bothering me more than him. He is quite happy to wipe the boogers across his face and then continue playing. Me= not so much.

Anyone want a drink? These were moved later because he was able to pull the whole box around while standing there (all 24 cans are full)

Pulling up on the cabinet and reaching for the drawer!

Mudd and William looking out the windows...and a lot of mess in between!

It was time to upgrade to a toothbrush now that there are so many teeth in there!



Last, it appears the Giggle Drill has been recalled. However, ours is NOT one of the serial numbers affected by THIS recall. Is it safe to play with? I don't think we will find out. Very sad.

I'm a Turkey

Thank goodness for short weeks! William is still a mystery to me. After our urgent care visit last weekend, he hasn't really improved or changed any. Still irritable and not wanting to eat his solids. Yet, nothing else really to go on. If these are teeth- HURRY UP!

Today was a little bit better with the solid feedings and we went ahead with the last meat:turkey. I'm not sure he liked it a whole lot. But, he did eat it all. Note he also has a very sticky looking teething biscuit in his grubby hands. He used to really like these, but now will only hold it and drool on it. This holding drooling= very messy. Oh well.

Turkey for dinner and a nice close up of our counter tops


Hmmm...not sure

But, still opening my mouth!

Did you mean to put that stuff in there?

I don't know what this look is, but it is funny!

The battle for the spoon begins. Who will win?

The triumphant champion gazes at his prize. This is a serious victory folks...

Right after our turkey dinner extravaganza, we saw a herd? gaggle? pride? of wild turkeys meander through our neighbors backyard! Our pictures turned out blurry - but how funny is that?

Edited: PS The red bump on his forehead, right side is where he ran into the corner of a wall earlier in the day. He cried less over that than when I try to wipe his face after eating.