Pumpkin Patch

One day last week, we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends Jenn (mom) and Charlotte (daughter). We got lots of fun pictures and William loved playing with the pumpkins, eating the straw, pulling Charlotte's hair, and touching the flowers. Here are just a few! of the pictures we took at the pumpkin patch!

William is not sure he likes this (and the spot where he was sitting was wet! Opps!)

William with some mums...Nice smile!

William isn't afraid of the scarecrow!

My little pumpkin with a pumpkin!


Which one is William? He loved trying to push over that pumpkin next to him!

All the little pumpkins in a row!

Just so cute!

William and Charlotte! What is William's favorite thing about Charlotte? Pulling her hair. So, every picture has Jenn in it to make sure he doesn't pull her hair. He is SO quick, she needed to be right on top of him!

This pumpkin patch has really big tire swings!

Jenn and Charlotte


William and mommy

Charlotte and the girl scarecrow

PS Check back later - I'm going to try and get some more pictures up here later today!

William eating peas! Whole peas! How exciting!

Busy

We're busy. Some of us are running around and others are crawling and creating messes where ever we go. Note: you haven't lived unless you have washed your face and brushed your teeth with one foot on the toilet lid to keep the baby out. Including the rinsing and drying - requires a lot more balance that you would think. Try it sometime. You'd be surprised.

We went to the pumpkin patch, had a Parents as Teachers meeting, church youth group meeting, stained in our basement, renewed our license plates and shopped for Christmas presents. Oh, and cleaned because Grandma and Grandpa will be arriving tomorrow evening! And we will be going to Safe Halloween at North High to get some wear out of our Halloween costume. Pictures are coming. I promise.

A Real Stand up Kind of Guy

The big news of the weekend is William is starting to let go of what he is hanging on to in order to stand on his own two feet. At this point, it appears to only be happening by accident. He lets go with both hands to reach for something or examine an object more closely and TADA! he is standing up on his own. He did it for the first time on Friday night. I figured it was an accident and it wouldn't happen again. Then it happened 2-3 times Saturday and a few times again today. He is totally ready to do it physically. Mentally is another story. As soon as he realizes he is standing up he plunks himself down immediately. So far, the longest he has stood unassisted is about 30 seconds, but I think we'll be seeing more of over the next few weeks. Although I am excited to watch him learn, I'm a little sad. I was hoping to introduce my "baby" to some of our family over Thanksgiving. Now, it appears I may be introducing my big almost walking baby to everyone. Not exactly the mental picture I had in mind. Oh well - onward!

So many other things happening! The babbling is adorable and cute. I actually had to leave the pharmacy area of T@rget last week as I was afraid some unsuspecting customer picking up their blood pressure medicine would suffer a heart attack from the overwhelming cuteness of my baby. My baby HUMMING. Humming loudly and happily mixing in the Mamamamas and bababababas inbetween. I myself has to do some deep breathing to prevent myself from choking on my gum. It was that cute.

Eating! After our doctor appointment last week, I was feeling discouraged. The doctor advised us to quit using baby food and just feed finger food on his tray. Sounds great, only William was not interested. Everything we put in (or he put in) stayed in for about two seconds before being pushed right back out. However, this weekend we have made progress! Hurrah! Progress! Today alone we managed the following: soup crackers, 1 semi mashed banana, carrots from our soup, chicken from our soup, peas (PEAS! can you believe it?), bread, 2 elbow noodles and 1 tiny piece of cheese. Still isn't great, but at least SOME of it went where it was supposed to!

We had a quiet but productive weekend. I got out with the girls for some quilting and breakfast. John got some quality time in with his cabinet project in the basement. We taught confirmation on Sunday and did a little shopping. A very nice balance. We do keep meaning to hit up the pumpkin patch one of these days for some pictures. We keep putting it off - it will happen this week for sure! The other news is that we are preparing for the arrival of the Grandparents McGarry next weekend! Hurray!

We'll leave you with some pictures from this weekend!

9 Month Appointment

Just for comparison (and I'm a geek), here are William's stats from this year:

Birth: 8lbs 4oz, 21 inches long
1 Month: 10lbs 12oz, 22.25 inches long
2 Months: 15lbs 12oz, 26 inches long
4 Months: 18lbs 12oz, 27 inches long
6 Months:20lbs 12oz, 28.5 inches long
9 Months:22lbs 4oz, 30 inches long

So, he has grown quite a bit! Even with all his crawling and cruising and constant motion all the time. For height, William is still in the 95% or "topping off the charts" according to the doctor. However his weight has dropped from the 95% to the 75%. Probably from all the activity. The doctor was pleased with his progress and said she "has never seen such a happy boy!" Maybe she just says that to everyone. The best part of the appointment was we only had to get one shot (flu vaccine). We also confirmed William is completely healthy except for the cold. No ear infection, no viruses....so tonight is the night!

We talked about a lot of other stuff which seems foggy to me right now. We have permission to feed him all kinds of stuff now except strawberries and any kind of nuts. Okay, I can't think of anything else - time for bed. This is one tired momma.

Finally, it works!

Well, Blogger is finally letting me put pictures up! We have kind of laid low this week as William now has cold and is still not sleeping through the night. That would mean I am also not sleeping through the night. We have our 9 month doctor visit today and I am anxious to hear what the dr. has to say. I would like him to learn to put himself back to sleep without needing me in the night. But, I also would like to know that he isn't sick first. I would feel terrible if I had been letting him cry and it turns out he is sick! Today, we'll clear that up. I'm also looking forward to finding out how much he has grown in the last couple of months and ask some questions about his feedings and sleeping! I'll have a lot (I hope) to update later tonight. For now, I will just leave you with some pictures from this week!

John's cabinet project progress


Kelly's first Block of the Month project! It is so much fun to be back quilting.


William's walking project: still in progress


Yep, I am that weird. Here is my banged up knee. The top bruise is now bigger, but doesn't hurt as much.

My striped monster. The one who wakes me up in the middle of the night.



I know this is a little blurry, but I'm back to working on my photography...

Poopy Blogger

Well, I tried to upload some pictures last night with no success and now today it isn't working either. I guess I'll have to try again tonight! Sorry!

Tired. So tired.

Sometime over the course of the last two weeks, our beautiful baby boy has been transformed into a striped, beady eyed monster that arrives somewhere between 2 and 3 am. This monster is screaming and crying and oh so far away from my warm bed. That is right. William has stopped sleeping through the night. He had been consistently sleeping from 9pm until 7 am give of take an hour since he was roughly 9 weeks old. I thought the cycle was broken on Saturday night when he slept solid from 9pm through 7 am. But no. Last night he was up at 12, 2:30, 5:30, and 6:30. This was the worst night by far for sleep, but last week featured many wake up calls as well. The naps are also hit or miss during the daytime. This oasis of sleep is something I start planning and dreaming about as soon as he wakes up on a day like today. But, then, on a day like today, there weren't naps to be found. As far as I can tell, this could be for several reasons that should become clear as soon as he starts sleeping again:

1) He is teething. Evidence: fingers, hands, all objects are constantly in his mouth. More so than usual (which is a lot).

2) He is learning a new gross motor skill :standing/walking. Evidence: He is able to stand on his own with holding on to other objects for short periods of time UNLESS he realizes that he isn't hanging on to something. He is doing a lot of cruising and funny little handstands on the floor. He is no longer afraid when his push toy moves and delights in walking with it across the room to ram it into the bookcase, couch or unsuspecting parent.

3) He is going through a growth spurt. Evidence: some of his 12 month clothing appears to be too short. I'm not sure how well we are keeping up with his nuitritional needs as he is in constant motion during awake time throughout day. Even growing a teeny, tiny bit could require the gallons of extra milk he is now consuming during the wee hours of the night.

4) He is going through the jerk baby phase. Evidence: I think he giggled last night when I tripped into his room at 3am. Or maybe I just need a little more sleep.

Did you know John's car smokes? Neither did we.


Hiking yesterday. Near the end of the hike, I showed off my ungracefulness by doing a full face plant onto a rock bed. No blood, huge bruise on my knee. If you are lucky, I might take a picture to post here.


John and William read books while I ice my knee on the couch.


William does squats as part of his daily exercise routine.

The promised Lizapalooza picture