11 months!

Today Will celebrated his 11 month birthday by taking 5 big steps all by himself. I'm sure he'll be running around by Christmas!

He's our Big Boy!

William had his 9 month well baby check up this morning, he's at the top of the charts!
Some baby stats:
Weight: 24 pounds (97th percentile)
Height: 30.5" (99th percentile)
He is wearing 18 month clothing now, I'm trying to "buy ahead" for the fall (if it EVER gets cooler!) and purchasing 24 month outfits, so crazy.
It's also time for a new car seat!

William's Nursery - Before & After

Here are some "before" pictures of Will's room. It was a neon purple color with mini crystal chandalier (previous owners had a "princess room" for their little girl.) If we'd had a girl I would have considered keeping it but as soon as we found out we were having a boy all I could think about was having a blue room!

After sifting through countless paint chips I narrowed down my choices to these four options. We finally decided on the color in the upper left quadrant.

Ryan did an amazing job painting the whole room! He painted the ceiling, walls, doors, and trim. He also replaced the chandalier with a new ceiling fan.

I love how it turned it out - probably my favorite room in the house. We have a few more things we'd like to add including some additional pictures, a shelf, and getting the print above his crib custom framed, but it's basically there.

Three Teeth!

8/4/11
Will is cutting three teeth at once right now! He's been such a trooper, I'm sure his top gum is really sore! When they're all in he'll have five teeth, two on bottom and three on top. Chomp away Will!

We've started making our own baby food. So far we've made banana puree, applesauce, and cherry-blueberry puree. His favorite is still banana. This weekend I'm going to make some veggies for him and if I get real ambitious, some chicken!

He's tried the following grains so far: rice, oatmeal, wheat, and barley. Barley is the only one that upset him. He's tried the following fruits: bananas, apples, pears, various berry combos, and prunes.

******
8/10/11
UPDATE:
Last weekend I made a ton of baby food! It was very easy using my Beaba Baby Cook. I made carrots, zuchini, peaches, apple-bluberry, and chicken. We gave him the chicken and zuchini Saturday night for dinner, which turned out to be a totally different texture than what he was used to. He did not like it very much at first, we mixed in some Gerber first foods peas to smooth out the texture enough for him to tolerate it. He's enjoyed the chicken dinner each night since then. Sunday evening I made "baby guacamole" and added cumin, his first spice :)

Will has been to the doctor at least once a month since he's been born! (did not have to go in July.) By Monday we realized why he'd been a little fussy all weekend - it wasn't from trying new foods, it was because he had another double ear infection! Ryan took him to the doctor and Will is on antibiotics again and goes back at the end of the month for his well baby check-up.
By the way, he's 23 pounds!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Sadie is four and a half years old!

Two years ago today we adopted our dog Sadie from the Houston SPCA. They said she was 2 1/2 at the time, so we celebrate her "half" birthday each August.



Our lives and carpet have never been the same! :)


Here she is meeting Will for the first time back in November.
We love you puppers!

Fun at School

Here are some pictures of Will's activity days at school: Splash Day! (top), 4th of July Parade! (middle), Super Hero Day! (bottom)
Looks like he had the most fun at the 4th of July baby parade, I think he actually likes wearing hats :) He's got "Western Day" on Friday, I hope his western onesie and baby jeans still fit!

He's mobile!

Usually when I put Will to bed, he'll cry for a minute or two before falling asleep and I check on him periodically until he's fast asleep. Last night when I went to check on him, he totally surprised me - he was SITTING UP ON HIS OWN in the crib! We've never seen him sit up on his own after placing him on his back. Uh-oh! Time to lower the crib! :)

He's also getting really good at scooting backwards. It's not quite a crawl, but very close. He does not stay on the baby blanket on the floor anymore - he's mobile now! We really need to get our house baby-proofed! We're excited for him as he's reaching these new milestones. His teachers at day care say he loves scooting backwards and that they've been busy moving the other babies out of his way so he doesn't sit in them. I think it won't be long before he moves to the "older infant" side of the classroom.

HFMD

Uh-oh. Will has Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease! NOT to be confused with hoof and mouth disease which is what animals can catch. I'd never heard of HFMD until we took him to the doctor. Like chicken pox, it's very contagious but once you get it, you can't get it again. He was mostly contagious the few days before the blisters appeared, poor guy.

We thought he was having an allergic reaction to the medicine he was taking for thrush which he had last week, nope! A whole new thing!

He is going to have one strong immune system by the time kindergarten rolls around!

Bjorn Free

Too big for the Baby Bjorn! I thought we'd have a little more time with this, but Will has grown so fast, he's now taller than the recommended length for the carrier and is almost at its weight maximum. I tried putting him in it last night but the clips wouldn't work around his tummy! He had fun "dancing" on the bathroom countertop in front of the mirror. It was so much fun to use while he could wear it. Here's a photo from last night and one from a few months back ;)

Thrush

Will made his monthly visit to the doctor yesterday. This time for thrush.

On Tuesday the day care called Ryan at work to say they suspected that Will had thrush. I have seen photos of it and read about it in the baby books, etc. but was not convinced this is what he had. He's been a little fussy lately, and very drooly, mostly because of the two new teeth that have erupted on his lower gum, and I think a top tooth is on the way. He also has a little rash on his chin where we keep wiping away all the drool and from the pacifier.

I made an appointment first thing on Wednesday (yesterday) and took him to the doctor. Yes, indeed, it is thrush. I've read that you can't really prevent it, it's an imbalance of the bacteria in the mouth (I wonder if the antibiotics he had to take a while back wiped out too much of the good bacteria?) but you can help it go away by keeping pacifiers and bottle nipples super sterile. Operation Sterilization has begun! However, he puts everything he can get his little hands on into his mouth. There are a lot of toys I need to disinfect tonight. I think Martha Stewart has a toy-cleaner recipe in her housekeeping book.

Other than that he is doing great. He has to take some medicine 4x a day for a week and it should clear up as long as we keep him from reinfecting himself. Since he was at the doctor, the nurse weighed him and he is a whopper of a baby! Granted, I had just fed him a 7 oz bottle, and he was fully clothed, but the scale said 22 pounds and 10 ounces!

Father's Day

We celebrated Ryan's first Father's Day on Sunday! Will gave him a red Task Force steel tool chest, Ryan was very excited about it. We had a great day, very casual, went to church in the morning, lounged at home, got take-out from Lupe Tortilla, and Ryan got to spend some "garage-time" assembling his new gift. I took these photos at the end of the day in Will's room. Sadie, never far behind, photo bombed us! Happy Father's Day Ryan!

Kristin and Rob's Wedding

Saturday, June 18 - The Larson-Thornborrow Wedding
Ryan and I attended Kristin & Rob's wedding Saturday evening at Heaven on Earth, so lovely! Before we left for the wedding, we celebrated my Mom's birthday at her house in Sugar Land along with Christine and Matt, they all stayed with Will while Ryan and I were on our date.
Congratulations Kristin and Rob!

6 months old!

Some baby stats...
As of today, when Will went to his 6 month checkup
he weighed: 20 lbs and 5 oz! (92nd percentile) and
he was 28 1/2 inches long! (99th percentile.)

Bluebonnets - a Texas Tradition

We drove out some where near Chappel Hill, Texas on Saturday and took a few snaps of Will in the bluebonnets. Due to the drought this year the flowers were pretty sparse but we had fun trying to take his picture before he rolled over. He is almost sitting up on his own now!

He's our Texas baby!

Spring Fling

Saturday was the "Spring Fling" at Will's school.

Here he is with his teachers wearing his new frog outfit.

Rice

At Will’s last check-up, our pediatrician said we could begin giving Will solid foods. This kind of blew my mind. To me, eating with a spoon means you’re a big boy now. Will is still my tiny baby! He’s only 4 and a half months old (wearing 6-9 month clothes though ;) and is already growing faster than I could have possibly imagined. So, last Sunday we thought we’d give it a try. Ryan bought him his first box of cereal, Fruity Pebbles? (j/k!) organic brown rice and we mixed it with his formula and violá, a tasty bowl of gruel. Btw, I like how the definition of “solid foods” is applied to anything other than water. I always thought a baby’s first “solid food” would be like a banana or something. No, it’s more like very runny oatmeal! I’ve had milk in my refrigerator that has been thicker than baby “solid food” ha! Will has never been very picky about anything, so it came as a bit of a shock that he just let the cereal puddle in his mouth and gave us a big frowny face! Then he leaned his head forward and let the cereal drip out. He was not having it. We are just “introducing” him to solid foods this week, letting him get used to the change in texture and the feel of the baby spoon in his mouth, and follow up with a bottle. I suppose as he gets used to the cereal it will become more appetizing? I had some in an attempt to show him how much fun it is to use a baby spoon, crushed vitamin, anyone? Next week we’ll try a different grain. Get the bibs ready, it’s nearing dinner time!

4 months old!

Some baby stats...

As of last Tuesday when Will went to his 4 month checkup

he weighed: 17 lbs and 13 oz! (87th percentile) and

he was 26 1/2 inches long! (92nd percentile.)

This photo just cracks me up. The tie-dye "sun" is over is round tummy. Peace out baby!

First Party to Attend

On Saturday March 26 Will attended his very first birthday party. His friend Zack turned 2 years old and had a fabulous party. I think Will handled the all of the excitement really well, he may be a natural party animal! Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures (thank you Carrie for taking this one of Will and me!) The one that I took of Zack during his birthday song came out too blurry.

Will was eyeing all of the adorable Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. I told him has has to grow some teeth first ;)

First Roll Over

On March 9 Will rolled over for the first time! One Saturday morning, just as I left the living room to the kitchen to get Sadie her breakfast - I hear Ryan yell, "He just rolled over!" Luckily he rolled two more times, we got the second roll on camera. Will was really happy and "chatting" with us all morning. He hasn't rolled very much since then though.

The next weekend Ryan's Dad was in town from Michigan and Will rolled for Grampy, but we haven't seen him do it since. I think he's going to surprise us again when we least expect it.

Will's 3 Month Picture (a little late ;)

In the same week that Ryan turned 32, Will turned 3 months old! Check out their groovy photo from February 26th:

It seems like Will is gaining pounds by the week! His 4 month check-up is Tuesday and I'll send out some new baby stats then.

Aunt and Nephew

My Mom made this photo comparison:

The baby on the left is my sister Christine, pictured in 1983, and Will is on the right in 2011.

Both about three months old - definitely a family resemblance, right?!

Out Sick

Last Friday I took the day off while our friends, Casie and Aron, were in town visiting us from

Denver. It was an unusually hot weekend, almost 80 degrees Friday afternoon! We had fun strolling through Old Town Spring and visited the Civil War Museum (which is NOT stroller friendly at ALL!) I should have taken the Baby Bjorn and carried Will but I think he liked the rumbly ride in his stroller.

There's a cute little bakery there that makes excellent cake balls if anyone is interested.

We had our first "sick baby incident" on Saturday, he never ran a fever but started wheezing pretty badly. Ryan had the day off work Monday (am I the only one who had to work on President's Day?)and took him to the doctor. He had rsv which developed into bronchiolitis. Poor guy! He was given a breathing treatment in the office and we've been giving him medicine through a "baby inhaler" since then. He stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday and is back at school today. Apparently several of the babies have it right now at school. Get better soon!

Back to Work

I went back to work on February 1st and cannot believe how fast the time is flying.

Will's first day at day care wasn't until yesterday so for the first two weeks I was back my mother in law, Barb, was in town from Michigan to look after him.

We had a great visit with her, Ryan's sister came down for a few days at the end of Barb's visit - Will really enjoyed seeing his Hatkowski relatives.

Will also got to watch his first Super Bowl when we visited our friends in The Woodlands. Here's a cute shot of all the guys.

On Valentine's Day Ryan stayed home with Will and they made a wonderful dinner for me when I got home from work - look at his cute Valentine's Day shirt!

He did really well yesterday on his first day of "school." His teacher wrote that he was a very smiley and happy baby. I think dropping him off at day care for the first time was much worse on his parents than it was for him.

Auto Show

On Saturday we went to the 2011 Houston Auto Show. It was our first public outing together other than the park and the grocery store. No major meltdowns or poo-splosions, success!

We took the stroller and car seat with us to test out which "family vehicle" we're considering buying later this year. So far, our favorite is the Ford Flex.

Here Ryan and Will are demonstrating that his car seat fits much better in the Flex than in the back of my old Chevy Malibu!

My mom and I watched my sister (pictured in blue) cross the finish line of the Houston marathon on Sunday. Way to go Christine!

2 month check-up

Happy two month birthday Will! To celebrate, we went to the doctor and he received his two month vaccinations.

Some baby stats:

Length: 23 3/4" long, 80th percentile

Weight: 11 pounds and 3 ounces, 40th percentile

Will didn't mind the oral vaccine but has been pretty crabby since his tetanus shot, nobody likes those! He here he is trying to forget about it in the baby swing, look at those cheeks!

Note: Our old sofa and arm chair in the background - Our dog Sadie thinks we have just given her the greatest gift, she is in upholstery heaven. Little does she know it will be donated soon.

8 weeks!

Will turned 8 weeks old yesterday. I weighed him one last time before returning the baby scale we had rented, a whopping 10 pounds and 14 ounces! He has his two month check up on Wednesday, we'll get his official length then. He's just starting to fit into his 3 month clothes, we've been having fun dressing him up in all of his cute outfits. He doesn't quite fill out the 3 month size in the tummy but he definitely needs the extra length.

Last night we attended my company's office holiday party - his first non-family social event! He did very well, we were there for three hours and he got to meet lots of new friends including baby Leila. He only had one major melt-down, our cue that he was ready to go home.

In this photo he's wearing his "Michigan Outfit" from his great aunt Sue. So warm and snuggly!

Will "working out" on his baby gym

Will loves his baby gym... for about seven minutes. The photo on the left was taken before his latest growth spurt, he wore that outfit only twice before he grew too long for it!

The photo on the right was taken last week.

New Sofa

We just got our new sofa on Tuesday. Little Will can hardly wait to unleash a box of crayons on the cream cushions.