11 Months Old

 My Dear William,

You are growing so much that I needed to write a list of your new accomplishments ... and here it is:

You sign!!!! You can say all done and ask for food ...this one isn't a sign, but you also wave bye bye.
You stick out your tongue when asked and can find nose, hair and mouth on other people
You stick out your foot when we say "Feet Go First" as you climb down chairs, stairs, beds and more (although you still try to go head first after you stick that one foot out) silly boy!
You can stand alone (hands free) for quite some time
You take one step on your own before dropping
You walk with our help

You push toys, boxes, tables and everything you can around the whole room (walking and running)
You climb all the way up the stairs and we can't let you near them without keeping an eye on you. You have scared me many times this last week climbing halfway up before I noticed. You are fast!
You like climbing everything actually. You are always trying to climb up on the couch and whatever else you can find.
You finally hold your cup up by yourself to drink
You give kisses very frequently ... although you always forget that daddy has a beard that you don't like to kiss. :)
You hand us things that you have ... and this includes when we ask for what you have in your mouth!
You put things inside of other things
You can make elephant and lion sounds
Oh, and you have a new tooth!

You do sit down when we tell you to and you have really been improving on obedience lately. I'm really proud of you. We have also begun telling you to leave your paci in bed and we wave bye bye to it as we leave the room. If I were to sum up the last month of changes, I would say you are finally communicating to us and it shows us that you are ready for bigger concepts ... like paci is only for night night time. You have never cried when we put paci back in bed and I think you go to sleep easier/faster now that you have something to look forward to. I find that I speak to you more like an adult than I was previously. You understand more now I think and you prove it by responding in all the ways I mentioned above. I discover something new about you every day and all your changes encourage me so much. It is greatly encouraging to know that you listen to what I tell you and that you won't always stay at the same stage.

 

 My biggest struggle right now is that you think it is so fun to run away when I call you and come looking for you. I struggle because it is so darn cute and you are so easy to chase! But I know how this turns out. You start walking, then running ... and before I know it, what was cute is now direct disobedience and it will be hard to run after you ... especially in public... and with another baby in tow. So what can I do with you? I try to use positive reinforcement when you DO come to me. But it is very rare and I want you to have fun playing with Mommy and Daddy when it is the time to play. As smart as you are right now, I just don't think you would understand being disciplined for not coming. I don't know son. I just don't know. I don't have all the answers, but I desperately want you to learn important lessons like "Don't touch" and "Come when I call you"

I can't think of any wisdom to give you this month. I hope when you look back on these letters that you will learn something about me ... your mom. I stressed out so much before you were born. I wanted to have all the answers before you came. But most of parenting is figuring it out as you go. You are our first born, so we will be figuring everything out on you. We already aren't thinking/worrying about the next baby because we know we have already done those previous stages and they don't scare us anymore. So please William, forgive me for my failures with you. Forgive me for my impatience and my anger. I love you very much and I always will. Don't stop growing. :)

Your Mom

Good Bye 1st Trimester, Hello Energy?

This is a boring update, but a lot of people like to know.... I'm doing great with this pregnancy. I am tired, of course, but I'm surprised at how easily I've been able to juggle being pregnant and being a full time mom. It is encouraging to find out that both can work. I will say that I am super glad William takes 2 naps a day though. I hit a wall about 2 hours after we wake up ... and thankfully, so does William! We both take a long morning nap and then I'm good for the rest of the day. Whenever I feel like complaining about this pregnancy, I just keep reminding myself that it gets WAY harder later on, so I should save my energy and complaints for then. I'm not looking forward to the back aches and feet aches. So until those come, I'm doing just fine!

I can't wait to feel this baby move. Most of my memories of pregnancy with William are later on in the pregnancy ... the result is that I really don't feel pregnant because I can't feel this baby move. The other week I started to feel a bit more energy and when I told Isaac about it, his immediate thought was, "Do you think you are miscarrying?" I was surprised and unnerved. That hadn't even crossed my mind. And even though I assured Isaac that it was probably just the second trimester energy coming back, I couldn't get it out of my head what he said. Thankfully I had a OB appointment later that week and the midwife found the baby's heartbeat right away. The baby even kicked the Doppler. My worries quickly disappeared, but it all makes me very anxious to start feeling this little person live and move inside of me. 

13 1/2 Week Bump

I'm already showing more than I did with William this far along, but surprisingly, I'm gaining weight ALOT slower than with William. That fact, along with the fact that they pushed my due date further than I thought they should, makes me think that this baby is going to be a small one. I can't wait to find out what the gender is ... 6 1/2 weeks to go. EEK! :) 

Video of William pushing his toy around

Tongues

This post is dedicated to tongues. LOL. Just this last week, William will stick out his tongue when we ask him where it is. It is ADORABLY cute! I also catch a lot of pictures with him sticking out his tongue when he is playing by himself.

 But also while my friends were here, several of the children asked me to take pics of their colored tongues and they all look pretty cute too! :)

Maggie

Abby

Myles

Owen

Friends!

Some of my absolute most best friends came to visit us for a few days ... AND all of their 7 kids, making it 8 with William. It was a blast! I would say the hardest part was the not getting very much sleep, but we have no one to blame but ourselves. The best time for the adults to talk was after 9pm when everyone was finally asleep. Isaac was gone most of the time, working 12 hours days again. And William did surprisingly well! I knew the loud noises would get to him, so whenever possible I pulled him away from the big kids and let him play next to tiny little Nora (she is so much smaller than William even though she is 2 weeks older!) We have so many pictures of them playing and eating together. It was like they knew that each other was their own age and they played so well!

Here are some pics of the kids in the spray-ground that we went to and to the children's museum. 

All the kids eating dinner

Ashley making yummy pizza

Group photo at the Children's Museum!

 Playing doctors and dentists

Cute little maggie! I loved how she wanted me to hold her whenever possible!

 Charlotte and Owen changing diapers

Henry and Abby in their elements! Love Abby's foot!

10 Months Old

My Darling Growing Boy,

You are a joy to watch and play with! Your daddy and I look forward to you waking up so we can see your smile again! In the last few weeks you have figured out that Daddy is different from Mommy and you get so excited when you see your papa. I love it, because it means you aren't clinging to me too much, but I also love watching your relationship with your dad grow. You climb all over him and pull his goatee. Sometimes when you get really excited you start crawling really fast in a circle around us. It is hilarious to watch! :) You are so steady on your feet now that you have begun to let go of things and sometimes you throw your body to reach from one thing to another. We can't wait to see you taking your first steps, but it will probably be in a few month from now. Your favorite thing in the world is to open and close doors and drawers. It entertains you for a long time. Sometimes you sit and read books for a while too, but that doesn't happen every day.

You know ... it is time to grow up now and be a big boy. You are going to be a big brother soon. We don't know if it is a girl or boy yet, but we do know that you will need to learn to be very helpful and careful with "your baby." Already we are teaching you to be gentle with Mommy's belly and face. Your daddy and I are working really hard to teach you some words. It would be great if you could learn to communicate better with us before the baby comes. We know you understand us, but you need to say it for yourself so we can understand and help you better. Right now you say "nana nana" whenever you want anything.

I think you will be a great older brother. You are very affectionate and you watch everything around you. You aren't very loud and aren't too demanding most of the time. My greatest hope is that you will love having another little person to play with and that being "Mommy's Little Helper" comes naturally to you. I love you so much! You are my special boy. Happy Ten Month Birthday! I love watching you grow up. :)

Your loving Mommy

 William loves looking and being outside.

All worn out!

Just kidding

Climbing the saw horses while daddy is working on a project

Help!