When it Rains, It Pours...

When it rains, it pours around here. If you've been keeping up, you know that we got almost 8 inches of snow here last Friday in what is the biggest snow in years around here. Crazy, I know. Well, the weekend was wet and slushy, but nothing out of the ordinary for us. Until Sunday. Sunday we were sitting in our living room pretending to make plans for the rest of the day when a flash of light caught our eyes. Why yes, snowstorm on Friday and a thunderstorm on Sunday. In fact, on my way to the grocery store to pick up a few items for the Heidt Threesome NOTSuper Bowl UNparty (TM), it even hailed for several minutes on us. I thought that was wild until this week. Yesterday I got both of us (William and myself) up and out the door to go to the Y. To my surprise, the bank sign read 75 degrees. And it felt like 75 degrees. If I would have know that, I would have probably skipped the Y and taken the baby for a walk outside.

But, today is the best of all. It started raining this morning sometime. A light sprinkle that went off and on all morning/afternoon until right after I put William down for a nap at 3pm. Then, we had a ton of thunder/lightening and hail, again. This time for closer to fifteen minutes (by my inaccurate timing).


Shortly after the hail started, I went to see what was happening. Here is what I saw:

Here is our deck. It was snow free this morning...now we have hail!

This was taken right after the first photo, only with the flash so you can see the hail streaking down (and why the photo is so dark).

While I was watching the hail coming down, I heard a funny dripping noise coming from our lovely fireplace. I checked around and couldn't figure out where it was coming from and called John with my joyous news. Tonight, we did some more investigating and it appears we have a leak. John confirmed our suspicions with the discovery of wet insulation in our attic. Shortly after John reappeared from spelunking in the attic, I went into the laundry room to finish up a load of diapers I started earlier in the evening. It smelled VERY clean in the laundry room, and although I do keep a spotless home on all occasions, it wasn't the smell I was expecting. Turns out, the laundry detergent I had resting on the back of the washer slipped and fell behind the washer/dryer when the washer went through the spin cycle. The cap on the detergent was not tightly fastened (of course) and then spilled all over the floor behind the washer and dryer. Just what we felt like doing tonight! Pulling the washer and dryer out and cleaning behind them! Yippee!

What, you are here for pictures of the baby?
Here are some pictures from this weekend!

William with his "B" (his word, not mine) looking out the window. It might be hard to see him at first because of the camouflage he is wearing...look closely! Thanks to godmother Jessica for his cute new shirt with dinosaur camouflage!

Here is one of our hobbies: Putting items in the recycling that DON'T belong (example: blanket) and pulling out things that DO belong (example: the entire Sunday paper, each page carefully separated)

Reaching in for more stuff. This recycling container now has a new home after I found 57 of his 100 new blocks in it on Sunday afternoon.

Can't reach? Tip the whole thing over!

Pretend to only want one tiny piece of paper when anyone is looking. They won't take the recycling away from you if all you want is this one tiny piece of paper to play with...

PS Cabinet doors have arrived! Staining, etc will begin shortly. Pictures to follow.
PPS John reminds me that we are upon the one year anniversary of the great flood of 2007.
Which I apparently didn't write about in the blog last year. During the installation of plumbing in the basement, we flooded our laundry room and cleaned most of our ductwork in the process. It all turned out okay, but it was a little stressful at the time.

Charts, As Promised

It is probably best to look at the chart expanded as it will be easiest to see. There are lines on the chart to indicate all of the different percentile ranges (3%-95%) of growth. William's line is dark blue with dots on it located near the top of the charts. This spreadsheet is based on the CDC's data gathered from where ever it is they get their numbers. Anyway, it is the standard chart used by pediatricians to track growth in children.

PS For all you geeks out there, I created this spreadsheet myself using the data from the CDC. If you want a copy, please send an e mail plus $5468741638685 to us and we'll hook you up. Or just the e mail. William's data will cost you extra.

One Year Appointment

On Thursday, we had our 1 year appointment with our doctor. For the first time, William walked his way back to our appointment room! Here is the updated information on him along with the comparison from earlier visits:

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
12Months: 23 lbs 2oz, 32.5 inches long

It is a little crazy to think he has grown 2.5 inches in the last 3 months and gained less than a pound. William is still at the top of the chart for height and between the 50% and 75% for weight. His head circumference is around the 75% (48cm). What I can't believe is that there are kids out there with bigger noggins than William's. His head is crazy huge in that any hat less than 24 month size won't fit. I'm a little mad that he outgrew his winter hat already (size 12-24 month) before winter is over. John made this graph thing with the growth curve on it. If he ever has a minute, I'll ask to him post it and explain it.

The rest of the appointment went well. We were glad that his ears/nose were still clear as whatever was wrong last weekend is probably over. The doctor watched him play and lots of questions regarding his development. She was impressed with his walking/motor skills and his vocabulary (no no, meow, night night, all done, mama, dada, ball, bye bye plus a few others). Overall, she felt he is developmentally way ahead of where he needs to be and he is "one smart baby" (as he tried to push toys in the crack under the door). We also got advice on weaning him and what he should/shouldn't be eating (strawberries=okay, nuts/peanut butter=not okay until 2 years). We didn't get stellar advice about our bathing concerns, but we'll keep working on getting him back to liking his tub time. We also got 4 shots and a hemoglobin test run, so when we left, William was not a happy camper. The drive home was a little wild as it had been snowing all day. People around here cannot handle driving in the snow. Although it really isn't their fault as it doesn't snow often enough for them to learn. By Friday morning, it was enough snow that John got the day off! Yeah! Some new pictures are below. Enjoy!

Helping Daddy put together the jogging stroller

Here, let me show you how to use that...

Here we go, you just need to...

Hold it this way when you're using it...

I wonder what else needs to be fixed around here?

Smile! We're going to the doctor today!

It is amazing how much harder I have to work now to get pictures of him. He is constantly in motion!

His new bear overalls. They are so fuzzy and warm as they are made out of fleece. He is so comfy in them and looks cute too!

Seeing a LOT of this face lately...teething and not napping don't make for a happy baby.

Actually holding still...amazing isn't it?



Playing with dishes. He carried these around all evening from place to place. Tell me again why we buy toys?


Another new shirt...Friday was a crabby day. The mix of less sleep, shots on Thursday and teething makes for a short tempered baby. Luckily we got some snow (about 6 inches at our house) overnight and Boeing CLOSED the plant! Although, poor John had to drive to work to find out. So we had daddy backup here today to deal with the crabs. Worked out nice for us, even if it is crazy to shut down something as big as Boeing for just 6 inches of snow....

P.S. Our good friend Charlotte is going through a tough time. If you are the praying kind, please keep her family in your prayers. If not, please send happy thoughts, etc. Click here to read more about Charlotte.

It is FUN to be ONE!

Well, here is the summary of the first birthday:

The day dawned earlier than we would have liked. William was up at 6:20 am, about one hour earlier than we like to see him. When he got up, it was very noticeable that he was still running a fever from the night before. We managed to get an underarm reading of 101.4 and 101.6 from him (which translates to 102.4 and 102.6 as you add a degree to all underarm readings). Any type of temperature readings are difficult on a baby that doesn't sit still for the 9 seconds required for an accurate temperature reading. For breakfast, William had one of Mama's favorite foods for the first time: french toast! It was so yummy, even if he wasn't feeling great. Above is the new make ahead french toast recipe we tried out. It was yummy - if you want the recipe, you'll need to email Grandma Kim.

All done! One of William's newest words/signs! Here is the birthday boy wiping himself down after sticky french toast (or, throwing the washcloth on the ground).


Daddy modeling William's birthday crown: It's fun to be ONE!

Trying to get a picture of William's cute 1st birthday outfit. I don't think I got one I love....


The birthday boy!


It was tough not feeling good. This is what he did most of the time when he was put down on the ground.

This is all he really wanted to do. Cuddle with anyone. Here with Grandma.


Wearing the "It's fun to be ONE crown".


His super cute outfit also came with a super cute knit hat. This is the only time he left it on for more than a few seconds - to give Grandpa kisses through the sliding glass door.


Mmmmmm....with daddy

What is a party without games? This clown was drawn for one of the McGarry kids' birthday parties by Great Grandpa Tom. William was so excited to play this game with his friends and cousins at his party. William got to watch all of his cousins and friends put their noses on first so he would know what to do. Please note: William decided to put his nose on the chair right in front of him (it is red in his hand).


William's birthday cake. I got a little crazy and decided I wanted his cake to be homemade (from a box homemade) for his first birthday. It sure wasn't pretty, but it tasted good!


Everyone else's cake and Daddy's favorite kind of cake (and Mama's least favorite!)!


William checking his cake out. I was shocked that he didn't dive right in and make a mess.


Checking out the frosting...


If you're going to enlarge any of these, pick this one. It's worth it for his expression.


He seemed a little confused with what to do next, so I cut a little piece off the cake for his to play with. He liked that better as shown above.


Watching his cousins....


The cousins...

All done!

After the cake, William was pretty drained and fussy. It was past his naptime and he was falling apart fast. We decided to let the birthday boy go ahead and get a little nap in. I was worried some of our guests needed to get going with some reports of a little snowfall, so we went ahead and opened up his presents. I'm sad he didn't get to do it himself for his birthday, but there will always be next year. He sure did get spoiled! Thank you to everyone who came! We had a lot of fun!

Later in the evening, we realized we didn't take any pictures of our family together. So at 8:46pm, we took a birthday shot at the exact time he was born.

I love this face.

Our family!

The next morning, William still had a fever when he woke up. We decided before we drove home, we wanted to get him checked out. I didn't want to regret not being seen halfway through Iowa where there really isn't even a place to get gas, not to mention any type of medical facility. So, we spent part of the morning at the Urgent Care Clinic where William checked out as having a fever but nothing else noticeable. We came home for a nap and then William got to open his present from Grandpa and Grandma: A CAR! He was totally in love, although the car had to be put away for a little while as he figured out how to tip it over on himself that same evening. He only gets to use it right now with some pretty close supervision.

PS Monday morning William woke up without a fever. We're starting to get back on track, I hope!

364

Sneaking a Snack this morning

Brrr! It's cold!

364 days old today. Hard to believe tomorrow is the big day. We're busy trying to pull it all together. It snowed here (in MN) today, so Grandpa got out the sled to give William a taste of the Minnesota winter. Fun stuff...

Looking at the flakes...

Weeeeeeeee!

Down the driveway we go!

Without thumbs in your mittens, it is hard to hang on to anything!

Still fun, even if you're laying down. And yes, he is wearing socks over his shoes as he doesn't have any boots!

A big push from Grandpa

Daddy and Grandpa talking about pulling the sled back up the driveway