My latest trick!

On the Move!

I know I mentioned this in my 10 month post, but it is now official- we have a walker. Will has been taking steps since right at the 10 month mark, but as each day goes by his walking gets better and better. Unfortunately, I haven't been the best at capturing these fun moments so I thought today I'd grab my iTouch and try to capture where he's at with walking. I have to say, and I know I'm biased but this is really not his best work, but he's definitely making strides. He can now walk from one side of the living room to the other without holding on or falling down. I'll try to get some better footage this weekend!

I couldn't possibly love this child any more! Mommy and Daddy are VERY proud of you!

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

...looks like we are finally back to the land of the living...after a VERY long week. Last Friday morning when I went in to scoop Will up out of his bed, he was on fire and had a temperature of 102.4 coupled with being a VERY fussy baby. I went ahead and called the doctor and we were seen immediately (one thing I absolutely LOVE about our practice!). The doctor gave him the once over and other than a slightly irritated throat and fever, his vitals were all normal. She let me know that likely the fever was an indicator that an infection was present and a cold would likely follow.

That afternoon Will's fever spiked to 104 and that's when I started to panic. We immediately began rotating IB Profin and Tylenol every three hours (per the nurse) along with several lukewarm baths to get the fever down. My in laws were suppose to be over that evening to watch Will for us while we went to a rehearsal dinner in Chapel Hill, but we quickly made a change of plans as we were fearful we might be spending the night in the pediatric ER. We finally got Will's fever down to 102.8 before putting him to bed but he woke every 30-45 minutes screaming in pain and dripping with sweat. Zak spent most of the night with Will sleeping on his chest in the glider...not a fun night!

Saturday morning the fever broke but he still screamed most of the morning and wouldn't nap. Since Zak was an usher in the wedding we talked to my parents to see if they were up for the challenge of keeping him through the night, which they kindly agreed to do. Of course when your kids go to grandma and grandpa's house they suddenly perk right up. I was happy to hear that he was minimally fussy and slept successfully through the night. What I wasn't thrilled to hear was that he didn't take ANY bottles. We picked him up Sunday morning and noticed that his body was covered with tiny bumps and he seemed to refuse to swallow. We called the triage nurse who felt 95% confident that what Will had was Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. What?!?!? Disease??? Are you kidding me? ...after some research we found it wasn't anything major we just needed to commit to getting fluid in him by any means necessary so for the 3 days that followed I fed him ALL his bottles through a syringe. NOT FUN! But one week later, the sores appear to have gone and my little man seems to be about 90% better.

Thank you Jesus that Zak and I were spared of the HIGHLY contagious virus! I have never had such bad cabin fever and starved of adult conversation since we basically couldn't leave the house. I have never been so thankful to be back in action!

Will: 10 Months!

How Big is Will? So BIG!

10 Months Big to be exact! My little peanut is growing up! I simply cannot get over how much changes in ONE month! Sir William is moving and shaking!

The Skinny on Will:

Height: Not sure, we won't have another appointment until his BIG birthday!

Weight: Probably close to 22 pounds

Head: Not a clue

Eating: To be perfectly honest, we have good weeks and bad weeks. Will continues to be more interested in the world around him than focusing and eating his food. He continues to take 4 bottles and eats breakfast, lunch and dinner which all consist of only solid foods. No more purees! The little booger is SOO independent that he wants NO part of me feeding him anything and will push me away if I try to feed him his finger foods. While I admire the independence, the willfulness often warrants a pop on the hand! He also seems to go through weeks where he loves certain things and then the next week he wants no part of it. Very strange. But all and all he is still packing on the pounds and continues to be a very long and sturdy little boy.

Sleeping: Happy to report that there is NO report other than to say that he is sleeping like a champ, both with naps and nighttime.

Milestones: Well folks, we have a walker. Not consistently but Will continues to take 4 or 5 steps and then plops down. He prefers to scale around the furniture and even the walls before choosing to crawl. I predict that before I write his 11 month post, he will be walking consistently! He will stand up in the middle of the room for a log time. We have FOUR teeth. I have to laugh though because I kind of think they make his look like a little homeless ragamuffin. We are seeing sooo much personality. Will absolutely loves clapping (which is new for him). He has started making this hilarious face where he scrunches up his nose and go hhehhehhehhe. It makes us laugh so hard! He is saying lots of "mamama," "dadada," "bababa" and "nighnighnigh" but still no real words though he knows how who mama, dada, daisy and tuck are.

Likes: He loves to play and watch other kids play. I actually think he prefers the toddlers over the little ones. He loves going to the nursery at the YMCA and at church. I think sometimes home gets boring. He loves when ANYONE comes to visit him. He absolutely adores his grandparents and to say the feelings are mutual is the understatement of the year. Will loves Daisy and Tucker. He loves for me to read to him, though now he usually winds up taking the book from me before we are finished so he can flip the pages himself. He has a new passion known as Baby Einstein- yes my friends he LOVES it. We usually put it on while we are trying to get dinner ready and he seriously never looks away.

Dislikes: Not such a fan of he car seat or riding in the car for long periods. He absolutely HATE for me to change his diaper or change his clothes. It is ridiculous. I keep telling him that he has only a few more months before mamma and daddy will be disciplining his sweet but willful self. And finally photoshoots. He hates me making him sit still for a picture or confining him in any way hence the lack of good pictures below.

But here we are, Will at 10 months:

I decided to start him out in an outfit before going to the white onesie per CeeCee's request!

Here's that face before he does the hhehhehhe! Definitely something we will have to video this week!

"Please momma, stop putting me back in this corner!"

 Thanks for trying mom, but I think I'd rather play!

Our 4 year Anniversary...

Home Alone on our 4th Anniversary!

My sweet, sweet husband took the reigns this year and made some plans for our anniversary. He booked tickets for us to go see the Broadway show, Chicago at the DPAC in Durham. This, coming from the guy who has never seen The Sound of Music or White Christmas was a BIG deal. We lined up my parents to keep our sweet baby boy for the night and headed out to Durham to see if we could find a neat place to have supper.

After parking and looking around a bit we decided to follow up on a locals recommendation and ate at a restaurant called Pops! It's an Italian restaurant with a warehouse feel and I have to say we had a wonderful time. The Caesar salad I got was seriously the best I've ever had. Our main courses weren't anything to write home about, but none the less, an evening of continuous conversation where I didn't constantly have to get up to steam veggies or cut up fruit for Will was a nice change of pace. ***But lest I go further without saying, it seriously about ripped my heart out to have to leave him over night. It was tough for both of us!

After dinner we headed over to the DPAC, which I had never been to before and it truly is a lovely facility. Within the first 15 minutes of non-stop singing, which I enjoy, I could tell Zak would have rather opted for a root canal. We even saw husbands at the parking deck that were going to the ball park while their wives went to the show-how bad is that?!? Zak was a trooper, but by three quarters of the way through the show we both decided we'd laughed, we'd cried and now we were ready to go! Another side-note: I had NO idea how racy those shows were. The women had next to NO clothing on and the language was filthy. We both came to the conclusion that we are simply not cultured people. We could appreciate the talent and the giftedness of the actors, but 3 hours was a little over our limit. We are simple people. We like to grab pizza on a Friday night or a nice steak or chicken dinner. We are not the froufrou folks that like foie gras and wilted spinach, I hate to say it, but we just aren't.

This is how Zak was feeling at intermission...hahaha

All in all, we had a LOVELY evening and I am so very thankful to be able to spend the next 60 years with my amazing husband and my very best friend!

4 years ago today...

...I married the man of my dreams and my very best friend. Zak, in my humble but accurate opinion makes up the very best parts of our family. He is funny, helpful, strong, handy, handsome, grounded and most importantly, I trust his walk with the Lord. 5 years ago we met at the gym, went on our first date, and then spent every day together thereafter.

I will never forget the day he helped me move in to my new place and everyone had left (and we barely knew each other) he stayed for hours to help me unload all my boxes. I knew then that he was a keeper and within 3 months of dating, I knew he would be the man I would spend the rest of my life with. How blessed I am. These past 4 years have been a wild ride of adjusting to living together (I'm super messy and Zak is OCD clean), getting pregnant and dealing with me pregnant (no easy task!) and then the past year raising our little one and having our life being turned upside down. I can confidently say that the trials and struggles of the life have bonded us more deeply and set the foundations for a lifetime of commitment to one another. Happy anniversary Zak, I love you more today than I did the day we said "I do!"