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

It wasn't funny then

One night last week, I was making dinner while William toddled around the kitchen. John was outside staining the shelves for our bookshelf. William made his way into the hallway from the kitchen, back to the kitchen, into the laundry room across the hall and back again. I was watching him, but not with eagle eyes as he wandered in and out of the different areas right around the kitchen. Sometimes he was empty handed and other times he had toys/tupperware lids/one of his socks/a 5 pound bag of potatoes in his hands. At some point, I heard some noise coming from outside and I distinctly remember thinking "I wonder what is going on outside? Who is making all that noise?"

A few seconds later John came into the house via the laundry room door stomping and yelling "What are you doing?"

It was right then I noticed William sitting quietly on the floor in the hallway with my keychain in his sweetly dimpled hands. I grabbed the keys and ran to the garage where I tried to remember what to push to turn the alarm off. As I pressed buttons the alarm continued to sound. Figuring the garage door being shut wasn't helping matters, I opened the door. This revealed the problem. Both cars parked in the driveway were sounding their alarms. Somehow, William had managed to set both of them off in record time....sure wasn't funny then. Kind of is now, except he set mine off today again while John was in the garage again.

Proving that it isn't all fun and games with car alarms around here. Actual progress on our bookshelf. There are shelves installed! Just waiting on some doors for the lower portion and some crown molding to install and it will be done!

All in a Day's Work

One thing on our project list since this summer was to find a way to guard our fireplace corners better. We weren't happy with the choices we found in the stores and resolved to build something of our own. Then we got a little busy with everything else going on and it just hasn't gotten done. Until today. John started banging around in the basement after a late lunch and we finished before 10:30 this evening. Not bad for just one days work. I think it even looks pretty good (if you don't look too closely). The true test will come tomorrow when the childproofing expert will have access to our work. Then we'll see how things go. Pictures below! Goodnight.

Hi Everyone!

Tonight we made a run to L0we$ for a few item to finish (maybe) our shelving project. While we stood in the lumber aisle for a long time contemplating the virtues of different options, William entertained himself by watching the other people in the aisle walking by. One woman walked by and said "Aren't you cute?"

I was feeling friendly, so I said "Can you say Hi?" to William.

And he did. William said "Hi" and waved his arm wildly around. Like he has been doing it forever all by himself. Except he hasn't. He then greeted several other people walking by with "Hi" as well. So cute. Except he wouldn't do it again once we got home. I still say it counts.

3.0

At this precise time last year, we were timing contractions. Real live actual contractions. Contractions that weren't taking me anywhere soon, but that took my mom and dad through Iowa in one of the worst ice storms in the history of ever. The contractions ended and my parents arrived. What a deal. This year I can tell you 100% for sure that the baby will not be having a birthday until next week. Last year I wasn't so great at reading the future. Takes practice, I guess.

To celebrate, I'm going to let you in on one of my New Year's Resolutions. A personal goal of mine. Last spring, I started working out again at the Y. At that time, I felt like things were kind of a lost cause. I jogged halfheartedly around the track while parts of my body swayed along with me. It was not a pretty feeling. At that time, I resolved to get back into some kind of shape and run a 5K Race as a family.

On December 31st, 2007, I proudly announced my resolution idea to John. His response: "It isn't fair for you to make resolutions for me." Hmmmm...point taken. At that point, the resolution became

-I resolve to get myself in shape enough that I can slowly jog a 5K race without throwing up, passing out or making a fool out of myself.

and the training began. As a celebration to the beginning of my labor with my baby boy, I jogged 3.0 miles today. Enough progress has been made to fully confess here what my intentions are. Will I follow through and jog a race? Who knows, but I'll be ready...

Speaking of the baby boy, here are some pictures from this week:

For comparison, here is William at 5 weeks old in his bouncy seat. I then let a friend use it for awhile as William didn't fit in it anymore. We just got it back and here is the current state.

An updated picture of him in his bouncy seat

Yes, he is holding my cell phone. It is one of only three ways I know how to make him hold still for a few seconds.

A different angle. Loving the attitude.



A few people have asked me when we are going to cut his hair. The answer: when I'm ready. I thought I would be ready at the 1 year mark. Then last week I noticed these sweet curls starting in the back. It might be a lot longer.


More sweet baby curls.

PS Teething update: Molar #2 is almost completely through. Molar #3 and #4 will be arriving shortly. Warning: 4 more bumps sighted in the canine positions. Bring it on baby.

....

Do you hear that?................................................................

Isn't is beautiful? It is finally quiet in our house.

Its been a rough few days. Car trouble and crabby babies shouldn't go together. These molars (I think) are making everything difficult. This afternoon I was ready to put a sign in the front yard "Free to Any Home: 1 Crying Baby, no questions asked". Thankfully naptime arrived and I could put away the extra thick sharpie and poster board. Everyone here is exhausted and relieved that bedtime is over until tomorrow.




PS Just like everything that is worth having, there are ups and downs to this whole kid thing. We sure do love him bunches and bunches - just not currently loving these teeth.

PPS Car trouble crisis is now repaired.

Updates on Progress

Several updates to add to our previous stuff:

1. Milk was introduced late last month. The first day was a mess and I truly thought we might never get this kid weaned. However, part way through day two with milk, something changed and now we are good to go. We've slowly started increasing the amount we give to him throughout the day so that after our one year appointment, we can start cutting out nursing sessions (with the doctor's approval, of course).

2. My second choice name for this post was the King of Babbel. William has been talking non stop for the last week. He seems pretty intense about what he is saying, but the rest of us can't figure out what he is talking about. We're still working to get some great recordings/video of this going on. The problem is our son loves (LOVES with a capital L) anything with button to push. Every time we take out the video camera or the recorder, he will stop whatever he is doing immediately and try to take the recording devise away so he can have his way with it. Here is a small sample of the meowing: Meow and Meow Again . This is probably the cutest thing I've seen this week alone. Anytime Will sees a cat, hears a cat meowing, or is looking for one of the cats, he will meow just like this. The funniest part is when the cats don't respond or he still can't see them, he will start yelling "MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" trying to get them to come closer to him. Unfortunately for him, our cats don't respond to louder noises and tend to shy away.

3. Walking/Running: The walking and running are getting better and more accurate every day. The bad news is that it is getting harder to stay 5 steps ahead of our troublemaker. Most days, I'm settling for just 1 step ahead of him. This means a whole lot more work as he rarely sits in one place for more than .2654687 seconds. The accuracy is important as we have some pretty close calls with wall corners and the fireplace bricks and a few run ins that stopped my heart momentarily.

The new big thing is to walk places while holding things. I guess he figures, as long as I'm walking over here, I might as well take this ENORMOUS toy with me. Tonight, he got ahold of a four foot level tool of John's and was trying to

This isn't an update. William is still INTO everything. He now knows how to open this oven drawer (and oven door) all by himself! Scary I know, but we are working on coming up with safe solutions (current solution: don't use the oven).

Helping Mama cook dinner.


Getting dressed for church! This outfit is from Great Grandma Nona - it is almost too small! This is how we do most of our dressing/diaper changes these days. Getting him to lay down and be still is like wrestling a small but very strong alligator/wildebeast/insert animal here. The kicking, screaming, and crying are just not worth it to me anymore. We were needing to end many diaper changes with a 20 minute long cuddle session to settle down. Sure, I can get it done faster when he is laying down - but the stress isn't worth it!


I'm calling this photo "Kisses from Daddy". Although, a more accurate name might be "Trying to figure out how to get that neat looking toy from Mama"


Smile! Or not, whatever...


And the last update! Our TV shelf project now has trim around the edges and we've touched up the paint. Last steps are in progress: the shelves are in the midst of polyurethane-ing and the doors for the cabinet have been ordered! The end is in sight!

Finally Caught up!

I think I am finally caught up! Whew! That was a lot of work. On my honor, I swear I won't let it get that bad again! We have several updates I've been waiting to post so everything can stay in order.


1. William's walking: Walking/running are now the preferred mode of getting from point A to point B. He still isn't super steady on his feet and several times a day sends himself flying at great speeds into the closest pointy/dangerous object. I am now breathing normally only between the hours of 9pm - 7am.

2.William's first word/s! I was going to post about this before we left, but I wasn't entirely sure that he knew what he was saying. Also, I didn't want to write down in the baby book that his first word is : "No". Officially started 12/18/2007. I was kind of hoping for a mama or a dada or something else cute to write down. But, no it is. I guess he hears it often enough... Although I'm not thrilled that it is his first work, I have to admit it is the cutest darn thing when he says it! Somehow he has picked up a little southern accent (eek! We might need to move! Next he'll want grits for breakfast!) and it comes out "Nnnnoooooah". He uses it all the time now: No he doesn't want to drink his milk, no he doesn't want to be wiped off, no he doesn't want to be dressed, etc. My favorite is when he does something naughty like dropping/throwing food off of his high chair tray and tells himself "Nnnnooooah"

3. Over Christmas we added "mama" (sounds like MAH! and always at top volume) and this last weekend we added "Meow"! So cute! He is working on Dada too, just isn't as consisitent with it yet. All done, bye bye and night night are also in the works. I can't tell you cute the night night one is. He said it back to me the for the first time on Friday night after he was in his crib. I said "Night night William, I love you." He looked back at me and said "nye nye". I just wanted to scoop him right up and love on him for being so cute...but I didn't. I was strong and left him to go to sleep. He has now said "nye nye" every time I've put him down for a nap/bedtime since then! I'm not counting it as a true word yet because right now he is just repeating what I'm saying. I want him to MEAN it!

4. It was almost 75 degrees here on Sunday! It was a beautiful day! So, off we hiked with our hiking pals to Busch Wildlife area. It was great to get out and enjoy the fresh air as well as reconnect with our pals.

Daddy and William hike together

Jeff always has his laminated map ready to go (and alphabetized in his ring binder of course!)

It is funny the stuff you see out hiking...like kitchen sinks!

5. Over Christmas, I was starting to feel a little concerned about William's appetite. He had really slowed down to eating almost nothing with every meal, which is very usual for him. After some poking around, I discovered he is cutting at least 4 teeth (molars). Yuck! That would explain his lack of appetite as well as his crabbiness over the holiday! As of yesterday, we have molar completely through with 3 more close behind. Bring 'em on! Let's get this done!

Also, it seems like as soon as we got home, someone switched the hungry button back on again. Not what was the cause, just glad to not be worrying about it anymore.

6. Dancing. William got a Little People CD from his great grandparents McGarry and he LOVES it. He loves to "sing" along with it and dance also! It is too cute! Video is in the works.

7. I'm not sure love is the right word to describe William's feelings for the vacuum cleaner. He has always liked it and loves when I pull it out to clean. He especially likes this smaller vacuum as he can push it around himself....

When do you think he is old enough to have chores? I don't really care to vacuum...


Leave me alone! I'm busy!

I think he played with the vacuum for close to an hour yesterday...