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!

Happy Mother's Day!

We made it home! The last hour was a little rough, but we all made it home in one piece. We also want to wish all the moms and grandmas a Happy Mother's Day! We didn't really do much celebrating as we were in the car all day - but John did go and get some yummy bagels for us this morning and treat us to Wendy's while we were driving in the car. We are both looking great as we just got out of the car -tired and hot. We hope everyone had a great day!

Our first night out!

John and I had a milestone event Friday when we went out for dinner with the Gaedke's without William. We were a little sad, but we knew he was in great hands with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mike. We went to a place called the Westfire for dinner and drinks - all in all we were gone about 2 and a half hours. Afterwards, we all came back to the McGarry's to visit and check in with our babysitters. Everything went just fine.

Saturday we celebrated Mother's Day by working in the yard and working on the deck project. It was nice to be outside and William liked using his stroller at the nursery gardens with Grandma. This afternoon, we had to say good bye to Uncle Mike as he was leaving for Maine. His flight is early on Sunday morning, so he was leaving for the cities tonight. Then, we went to eat dinner with Grandpa Heidt and Mike & Tien! We were a little late. We were supposed to meet them at 4:30, but William decided it was a good time for a nap! It was good to catch up with them and hear about William's new cousins to be some more. Only 16 more weeks before they will be ready to come and play! After dinner, we came back home and played some cribbage with Grandma and Grandpa after putting William to bed. John and Grandma won twice and Grandpa and I won once - we had a great time!

William has discovered he loves pop cans. Diet Coke especially (the cans, not the contents)


Reaching...


Reaching again...


Someone found my old pair of Mickey Mouse ears...they are still a little big!


Grandpa's big hand - 28 points! WOW!

We are leaving to go back to St Louis today, so I'll write more when we get back home. Happy Mother's Day!

Daddy's Back!

We are so glad that John is back! He was able to get out of work a little bit earlier and be back to Rochester in time for dinner! Valentino's! Double woohoo!

William decided it was a good idea to wake up this morning at 4:30am. Not my idea of a good time, especially because we were up until 1:30 am last night playing cards. Not sure why we are going from waking up at 8:30 am to 4:30 am. We're working on that one. We spent the morning snoozing and laying low to let me recover and then we went for a nice long walk. We walked "the parkway" and stopped off at Ed-Ventures to say hello to Jessica. William had a fun time looking at all the stuff on her walls and helping her answer the phones.

Uncle Mike sleeping on the couch with William's bear. Mike was awakened this morning by William's morning bathroom break.

William at work with Jessica

After leaving Ed-Ventures, we walked up Elton Hills Drive to Grandpa Heidt's house. We were able to visit with him for quite awhile before walking back to the McGarry's this afternoon. Uncle Mike did me a HUGE favor today by watching William while I took a shower. It was WONDERFUL! Thanks Uncle Mike! Then....John arrived! William was SO happy to see his daddy - even though he looked crabby because he was just waking up from a nap.

Happy Anniversary!

William would like to wish his Great Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gerry a happy 59th (WOW!) wedding anniversary. He even picked some flowers for them! He is so impressed and happy for them! Congratulations!

We got out for a nice long walk this morning and then went to see Grandpa Heidt this afternoon. Aunt Kaye came over for a spaghetti dinner and John is coming back tomorrow! What a busy day! More later, I have a headache (allergies?). Blech.


**Special thanks to Aunt Kaye for the floral subjects :)

What is the plan? I don't have one...

Well, it seems that teething has all sorts of things changing. William is now the proud owner of some pretty fuzzy hands compliments of having his hands in his mouth constantly and putting them down on fuzzy things like carpet, blankets, clothes, my hair, etc. He also has been changing his eating/sleeping patterns quite a bit in the last few days. I don't know if he is coming or going or vice versa. He refused 2 feedings today and woke up at 5:40 am instead of his usual 8:30 am. We don't actually see the teeth, but the swollen gums and indentations are there. Makes visiting and planning a little difficult.

Any way, we have had two very nice days in a row regrouping after seeing so many people over the weekend. William was thrilled to see his friend Jacob today (and Robyn also)! They drove in from the cities today to see us (and his grandparents). William was fascinated by Jacob's crawling, standing, sitting and rolling talents. He couldn't take his eyes off of Jacob until he decided to crash for a little nap. This evening, we also had some great guy time (not counting me of course). It was Grandpa, Uncle Mike and William at home tonight because Grandma had a meeting to go to. He really enjoyed the one on one time with both Uncle Mike and Grandpa - both of them are really good at sharing him when other people are around. Uncle Mike taught William a little bit about playing a pretty violent video game and Grandpa and William spent some time looking at tools in the "shop".

In other news, William is sitting up by himself for longer periods of time without tipping over and today I noticed him reaching for toys while he was on his stomach. We are getting soooooooo close to rolling over from his back to his front. It is so fun to watch him change! The other big thing happening for us is that we have started giving William medicine for a suspected reflux condition. I'm not really sure how I feel about the whole thing yet, which is why I haven't talked about it. Some days I am sure we are doing the right thing, other days I feel the opposite is true. Right now, we are just trying out the medicine to see if things improve and we will be talking things over with his ped. during our upcoming 4 month visit. Here are some pictures from today...

Reaching for toys during tummy time...

Starting to use his toes to push off when on his tummy...


Another new hobby: we love to watch TV! It is great incentive for rolling over!



I just love these feet!