Sunday

We've had a nice weekend. The weather has been beautiful and we have enjoyed being together both inside and out. William has been doing some sitting in his high chair and yesterday we tried feeding him formula from a spoon just for fun. We probably won't start feeding him solids for awhile yet, but it was fun to see the faces he made while he was eating. This morning we all slept in and then went to church together. After pancakes for lunch, we tried for a nap - didn't happen. William is really struggling with the whole nap thing. Sometimes we nap, sometimes we don't. Today we didn't. After a long nap attempt, we packed up and went to a "New Member Dessert" meeting for the church we are looking at joining. Funny thing, William is already a member. Here are some more pictures from this weekend...

The crazy cardinal that hangs out on our deck and tries to fly into the windows

William figuring out the high chair thing...

Garage Sale Saturday

We got up this morning and went out to some garage sales. We have decided I will be taking a leave of absence from teaching next year - requires some changes on our part :) Here is what we are looking for:

*Duplos*WoodenPuzzles*BabyOutsideSwing*BackpackCarrier*Legoes* Sandbox*LittleTykesWorkbench*Little TykesRed/YellowCar*KitchenSet*LawnMower*EtchASketch*LiteBrite*DumpTruck*MemoryGame* Walking/PoppingToy*BoyClothesSize18M+*WoodenBlocks*LincolnLogs*SpeakNSay*
DiscoveryToysMarbleShoot*OtherToysinGoodCondition

I'm sure there are a few other things we are looking for, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. I know there are some other hard core salers out there - keep me in mind! Have a great weekend!

I guess he doesn't mind taking it if he is in charge....

William's new (used) high chair

Babies Continued

Okay, the blogger wasn't letting me put the rest of the pictures in - I think maybe I hit their limit of cuteness in one post. So, we'll start the next one...bring on the babies!

Siblings! McKenzie and Nathan


The second half of our babies! Katelyn (#8), Maya(#7), Clayton (#6) and Charlie (#5)


Lean on me! Katelyn and Maya (babies #8 and #7) snuggle together


Babies #3, #4, #8, #7: Reagan, William, Katelyn, Maya



Reagan & William


Baby #6 Clayton with his Daddy


Reagan and William try to share a pacifier - their mommies taught them well!

Babies Everywhere!

Proudly Presenting: The Babies of the 8th Grade Floor June 2006-June 2007

Today we met up with all of the 8th grade teachers to get the picture of all the babies together. It was so fun to see everyone and it was total baby chaos. In addition to all 8 babies that were born in a years time, there were 5 older siblings running around. William had a VERY good time watching everyone and looking at the other babies. He happily showed off his sitting up and standing skills to the other kids. They were quite impressed. William was happy and smiley most of the time. He especially enjoyed playing with Reagan - a baby girl born 2 months before him. They both enjoyed looking and grabbing for each other - and Reagan's pacifier!

8th Grade teachers hanging out


Teachers and babies

Visiting and holding babies


Judy knows how to throw a party!

Matthew: baby #2


Beautiful baby #7: Maya

Sweet baby #7: Maya


Getting the baby picture set up wasn't easy! Tears were shed... Here are babies #1, 2, and 3 (Connor, Matthew, and Reagan)

8th Grade babies (L to R) Connor, Matthew, Reagan, William, Katelyn, Maya, Clayton, and Charlie

Mamas and babies on couch: Stevenia & Connor, Amy & Reagan, Kelly & William, Sherry & Charlie
Mamas/papas behind couch: Amy & Matthew, Sara & Maya, Kim & Katelyn, Michael & Clayton

Does this count as kissing? Babies #3 and #4 sure do like looking at each other (and grabbing and sucking....)

Little White Speck...

There is a little white speck on the front lower gum in William's mouth. Is it a tooth? Hard to say, but we hope so. He was on the crabby side of things and not napping hardly at all. Crabby and drooly babies are not the funnest thing ever. I have spent all day trying to keep his hands free of debris that accumulates there in seconds of being wiped off. He is spending all his time chomping on his fingers (or whatever he can get in there). When they leave his mouth all wet with drool for even a moment, they become covered with gunk. Hair, dust, cat hair, carpet fuzz, dirt, crumbs, and other various little pieces of stuff. On top of that, he is not interested in playing, singing, or most of the other activities we usually do to entertain him. It was a long day... Tomorrow I may try to get a picture of our little speck - but don't count on it. It was hard enough to find a way between his finger to put my finger in his mouth to feel around for the tooth.

Are you sure it is nap time? I thought if he was on his tummy, he might get a little more worn out and put his head down. Then, I would flip him over. He sure looks tired!

I am still working toward my goal of the Y 3 times this week. I got to go today - much like yesterday with meeting John there and then stopping by the ChildWatch area to scope it out again. Still not ready. Maybe next week. Although if this teething stuff keeps up.... just kidding.

William ate his first solid today while I wasn't looking. Paper....mmmm....

Where do you start eating a coupon?


The middle, I guess!

Mmmmmm...am I a bad mommy because I didn't stop him right away? I went to get the camera instead...


Mean mommy took away the paper...

We also took one of William new summery outfits out for a test drive. Thank you to (related somehow) Craig and Judy! We did have to up the size to a 12 Month size - which you can see are not that big on him. At least not as big as I thought they would be. The outfits are super cute - I especially like this orange one with a map to the beach on the front. While we were taking the pictures of the cute orange outfit, William was so wiggly in his chair as he tried to eat his fingers. I tried to buckle him in and...the straps don't fit around him anymore. BOO! I had to go and put it away because I know I will get lazy tomorrow and stick him in it for just a minute. Then, something terrible would happen. Good bye bouncy seat (AKA pooping chair).

Thank you Craig and Judy! I look so cute! Can you believe I needed the 12 Month version? And good bye bouncy seat....

Missing....

Missing: One ladybug Baby Einstien toy and My Car book. I can't figure out where they are and I've been looking for them for a week now. What are we going to do when he starts carrying toys around? We'll never find anything!

Today is actually a big news day for us! First, this morning, William sucessfully rolled over from his back to his stomach. It was completely by accident and it only happened once, but he sure is working hard on it! While attempting to roll over, he is scooting himself around in circles on his play blanket. Today, I cleaned up 3 different areas of our carpet from William spit up deposits. We may have to invest in a carpet cleaner if this continues (why wouldn't it?). The good news on the spit up front is that it appears to be decreasing somewhat today. I think we were in the range of maybe 5 spit ups in a 3 hour period versus the 20-30 spit ups. We'll see if the pattern continues.

Right after his successful roll over - reaching for his block

Our son, the contortionist. Practicing rolling over


More practice and reaching. How frustrating! He pushes the block so he can't reach it and then get mad that he can't reach it...

The second big news event is I actually went to the Y to work out today. I have been feeling like walking just isn't quite enough anymore and it is getting to be stinking hot during the time when I am actually out there. It is the first time since William was born I have gotten myself there. And worked out. John called to tell me when he arrived and I met him in the parking lot about 40 minutes later to hand off William to him. It went well, although I have a feeling that I will be sore tomorrow from it. I am pretty darn proud of myself for this accomplishment - I almost took a picture to document the occasion and then decided against it because I was pretty sweaty and hot. While I was at the Y, I took a minute to check out their child watch facilities for future reference. I talked with the people working and asked 105 different questions about how they handle babies, sanitizing toys, crying babies, poopy babies and when the least busy time of day is. I don't think I will attempt a child watch this week. I think I will focus on my goal of working out at the Y 2 more times this week first. Next week or the week after I will make a goal of dropping him off for real.

Before I go to bed, I would like to thank my dear husband for making this day possible. It meant a lot that he supported me in going back to the Y and helped out with William to make it happen. It would have been a lot harder to go back to the Y AND put Will in childcare for the first time. I probably wouldn't have done it. Then when I got home, he even made dinner AND did dishes! What a great guy....Thank you!!

Summer is Here...I think!

Well, it was pretty warm today and many of our summer blooms are coming out. I thought I was going to miss some of my favorite flowers when we were out of town. Yeah! They waited! William and I went out for a walk and got a little weeding done in some of our flower beds before William announced he was done outside.

"Mom's Lilacs"


Pink peonies


White/pink peonies


Purple Clematis


Every year I think the calla lilies didn't make it -and every year I am wrong!

We are trying to tough it out without our air conditioning on for another few days. We are going to have to break down and turn it on soon, but we're trying to hold off a little longer. In the history of the time we have lived in Missouri, I think this is the longest we have even gone into spring/summer without the air on. It is only about 85 degrees now, but it feels pretty warm - we know it is only going to get warmer. Thank goodness tomorrow we are supposed to have some rain and thunderstorms. Maybe we'll get some cooler temperatures with it :)

Using the manual settings on my camera is something I don't usually do because he is moving around too much to catch what I want. Here is some manual practice during nap time (poor kid never catches a break).

And finally, William's newest trick - reaching and grabbing his feet! He has been working on it for a few days now and is getting pretty good at it!