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.