Sunday, February 28, 2010

2.5

I took some pictures of Will just before Christmas...he was about a month shy of being two-and-a-half-years-old, but I think they can count as his 2.5 pictures. You would think that I would take pictures of him all the time, but the fact of the matter is that I don't. Sad, I know. I really want to do better, but I will admit that most of the pictures of Will these days are taken with either mine or Chris's iPhone....great quality, let me tell you! :) But at least we have something.

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Chris was having a lot of fun making him do little poses like this. It was kind of driving me crazy...but I think this one is my favorite.

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Love his perfect little smile!

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Still so small.

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My boys!

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He was so cold...but I still love this face.

I have said it before, but I just love this age! Will is so much fun right now. He has a great sense of humor and can make us laugh all the time. He talks really well now and he also knows almost all of his letters. Another thing that stands out about him right now is that he is VERY particular. He likes everything to be a certain way. Everything from wanting his toys organized a certain way (yes, he loves to clean...even dust!), to not wanting his Cheerios to touch his grapes, to wanting to wear the same shoes everyday...it is funny, but sometimes a struggle! He almost threw a fit when the guys from Best Buy delivered our new washer and dryer. He started crying when they took the old ones out, but calmed down when I explained that they were bringing new ones in.

I have always thought that kids say the funniest things and I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to have my own so they could entertain me constantly. Will does a good job of that. I find myself posting the funny things he says on Facebook a lot, but not on here...so I am going to attempt to go back through Facebook and think of some others to list here so that I have them recorded in a permanent place.

Stuff he says a lot:

- In response to "Good job!", "Don't do that.", "Please stop.", etc... "What did I do?" in the most innocent voice you can imagine.

- He mixes up words in questions. Two common questions he asks are, "Where we are?" and "Where it is?"

- Chris has taught him that his "other" name is Ferg. So now anytime I call him silly, goofy, sweetie, or anything along those lines he responds by saying, "No, I'm not sweetie, I'm Ferg." Lovely. :) He even told our clerk at Target that asked him his name that it was, "Will and Ferg."

- Chris likes to tell Will he is amazing and he always responds with, "I'm not amazing, I'm crazy!" He has said this for awhile and we aren't sure where he got it.

- He often makes suggestions for what we should do at the moment or sometime during the day and then follows it with, "Does that sound like a good plan?" I'm pretty sure I must say that often.

Now here are some funny conversations we have had or funny things he has said:

- He hasn't done very well with potty training to say the least, but he decided a little over a week ago that he doesn't want to poop in his diaper OR the potty, which has meant some minor constipation for him a few times this last week (he eventually ends up going in his diaper...or the bath tub...or on his potty STOOL). He has been telling me when his "bottom hurts" so I will attempt to put him on the potty and he usually just cries the whole time. A few days ago, he was sitting on the potty crying and he said, "I want Jesus to help me!!!" I couldn't help but laugh, but I then I told him that Jesus could help him and then he replied, "I don't want Jesus to help me, I want God to help me!" I have NO clue where he came up with this.

- Ever since then, he has been telling me that God will help him go poo-poo on the potty. I always agree and then ask if wants God to help him now. Just a few minutes ago, I was changing his diaper before his nap and we had this conversation. When I asked if he wanted God to help him now, he said, "No, God will help me go poo-poo on the potty after my nap." So I said that sounded good and then he asked, "Where's God?" I said, "God lives in Heaven, but He is also here with us we just can't see Him." He then asked three more times and I replied with the same answer each time. Then he said, "Oh..." thought for a few seconds and then said, "Where's God's car??"

- When my belly button first started popping out several weeks ago, Will noticed and said, "Oh! Reed David came out!" I have tried to explain that my belly button is not Reed, but Reed is just pushing my belly button out...but he still says it sometimes. I think he is just being silly now, but it does make me laugh. He has also pointed to his own belly button and said, "There's MY Reed David."

- Kristin brought her kids over not too long ago for me to watch for awhile and Will was taking a nap when they got here. Emma Kate laid down on the couch and fell asleep, so Easton (who is 8-months-old) and I went in the office while they were sleeping. Will woke up before Emma Kate, so I sat Easton down for a minute and went to get Will out of his room. I told him we had to go in the office and be quiet because Emma Kate was sleeping, but there was someone waiting to play with him in the office. Will has never been very interested Easton, probably because he is more concerned with playing with Emma Kate when they are around. But on this day, he smiled really big when he saw him and played with him...he was even trying to make him laugh. After a few minutes, Will just smiled at me, smiled at Easton, and then asked, "Reed David came out?" This makes me think that he really does understand that there is a baby in my belly, but I had to explain that Reed would be much smaller and I would have to go to the hospital for Reed to come out.

- A couple of weeks ago I asked Will if I could have a massage (sometimes he will play along and scratch my back for a few seconds) and he said, "You can have a Krispy Kreme donut!"

- I always ask Will questions about what happened at school when we are driving home. He usually tells me what happened or who he played with until I stop asking questions, but one day he had enough and said, "No talking!"

- When he says or does something that I haven't heard or seen before, I usually ask him who taught him that and his answer is almost always, "Pop taught me this!" I am not sure if Pop really is teaching him all those things or if Pop is just getting the credit or blamed, whichever the case may be.

- I asked him one day what book he was reading and he said, "I don't know...google it!"

- Will: I want chips, please! Me: Eat all your turkey and carrots first. Will: (sings Itsy Bitsy Spider while dancing) Me: Do you think being cute is going to get you chips? Will: Yeah!!!

Okay, that is all for now!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Chicago

Chris had a work conference in Chicago back in October and since neither of us had been there before, we left Will here with my parents and I got to go with him. Unfortunately, it was during the peak of my morning sickness so I wasn't feeling great most of the trip...but we did have a fun time anyway.

We got there on a Saturday afternoon and the conference didn't start until Monday, so we had some time to do a little sightseeing. The first thing we did was check into our hotel that we only stayed at for the first night. There was another big conference there that weekend which meant we couldn't find a hotel to stay at in the downtown area for that first night...so we stayed at a hotel close to the airport.

We dropped our bags off in our hotel room as quickly as we could and then hopped on a train to go downtown and see the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). We had read that the line to get up to the top of the tower was really long, especially on the weekends, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to see it that night. Chris bought our tickets online which ended up saving us from waiting in a big portion of the line, so that was nice. It does seem like the line is never ending because you just have to go through room after room standing in line...but we actually felt like it moved pretty fast. I think it ended up only taking us about an hour to go through the line and look around once we got to the top of the tower.

The view from the 103rd floor of the tower:
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They recently built what they call The Ledge which is basically all glass boxes built off the side of the building on the 103rd floor! Chris said there was no way he would stand in it, but I wanted to and he ended up doing it with me.

This is the picture I took while standing in the glass box looking straight down to the street:
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And another view:
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I took these next two pictures from their website so you could get a better idea of what I'm talking about:
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After we left the Willis Tower, we were starving and thought we would find something close by to eat. So we started walking around and quickly discovered that everything was closed! It was around 7pm on a Saturday night and everything in downtown Chicago was closed. Chris and I thought that was really strange but we just kept thinking that if we kept walking, we would find something that was open. Well we ended up walking a lot longer than we expected, but we did finally find the area of downtown that was open...it still wasn't very busy for a Saturday night though. I have heard Chicago compared to New York...and although it's been over a decade since I've been to New York, I remember it being a lot more happening than Chicago was. We ended up eating in a pub and it was good, but I think we were hoping to find something a little better in downtown Chicago. After we ate, we were worn out so we caught a train and headed back to our hotel.

On Sunday, we slept in a little and then got a cab to take us downtown to the hotel we were staying at for the rest of the trip. Our cab driver told us about a hot dog place that wasn't too far from our hotel called Portillo's. Getting a Chicago hot dog was definitely on our list of things to do, so we headed there right after we checked into the hotel. I have to say that it was delicious, but not what I was expecting at all! I was thinking it would be some kind of hot dog stand that we would just walk up to a window and order, but this was more like a casual dining restaurant. It was very good though and I would recommend it!

After the hot dogs, we walked to Michigan Avenue to do a little shopping and then we walked down to the Navy Pier and got on a boat for a tour on the river that goes through downtown Chicago. All I remember about that is there are a lot buildings in downtown Chicago that have a lot of history! It was mostly interesting, but I have to admit that I fell asleep for a good ten minutes or so. The guy sitting on the other side of Chris slept the entire boat ride, so I didn't feel too bad. :)

View from the boat:
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The tour guide told us to get the picture below. I never really figured out why...I think it had something to do with the old and the new (old bridge, new Willis Tower maybe?). I figured it must be important though, so it had to go on the blog:
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After the boat ride, we walked around the Navy Pier for awhile and then rode a bus back to our hotel. I was exhausted at this point and not feeling well at all. Chris has always wanted to go see the Blue Man Group, so he had gotten us tickets to go see them that night. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it if I didn't get some rest, so Chris let me lay down for a little bit even though it was throwing us off schedule. After about 30 minutes or so, I felt a lot better so we went to a nice place called Petterinos to eat dinner, but we were going to have to eat fast.

Thankfully there was not a wait, but when we were seated, our waiter asked if we were going to see a show (there were several theatres close by) and we told him that we were going to see the Blue Man Group. He freaked out a little because we were going to have to ride a train to get to the theatre where Blue Man Group was showing. So he kicked it into high gear and we had plenty of time to get to the show. We thought it was pretty funny that our waiter was so concerned with us making it though.

Once we arrived at Blue Man Group, a man that worked with the show came over and asked Chris if he would be willing to participate in the show and Chris agreed. I have to admit that I was surprised because it is so not the type of thing that Chris would typically do. He really didn't end up having to do much, but it was probably good for him to do something out of the ordinary anyway. :) We were really disappointed with the show itself. I honestly had no idea what to expect because I haven't ever heard much about the Blue Man Group, but Chris was expecting something a lot different than what it was. It was basically a theatre performance with a little music, but no talking...it was supposed to be funny, but it just wasn't our type of humor I guess. Chris was expecting something more like a concert. Neither of us were impressed.

On Monday, Chris got up early to go to his conference and I think I stayed in the hotel and rested the entire day. Chris did have a lunch break, so we walked to a nearby Chipotle and then I went back to the hotel and rested some more. It was nice since I hadn't been feeling so great. That night we went to eat at Pizzeria Uno. Or was it Pizzeria Due? I can't remember. They were right across the street from each other and the waitress told us they were owned by the same people and were basically the same restaurant. It was deep dish pizza that was pretty good, but it took a really long time for them to bring it out. We weren't sure if it was worth the wait when all was said and done. After the pizza, we walked around Michigan Avenue and went in a few stores. I think this was the night that we went to a Ghiradelli ice cream shop and Chris claimed that it was his favorite part of the trip. In fact, Chris asked the employee that took our order if it was the most awesome job ever to work there, to which she replied, "No." haha.

The next day, Chris had his conference again and I did get out of the hotel to do some shopping...but I got a lot of rest that day as well. That night, we had delicious steaks at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I think we walked around some and then headed back to the hotel.

This a picture of the river at night:
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We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel, which I think is the shorter building near the center of the picture with a row of white lights at the top. I think our hotel was 23 stories...which is taller than any building in Lubbock and it looks so small next to all the other giant buildings in Chicago!

On Wednesday, Chris got out of his conference around noon and it was time for us to take a cab back to the airport to come home. Overall, it was a good trip and I think we spent the perfect amount of time in Chicago. It is not a place that I will be dying to go back to...but definitely a good place to say we have been.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Christmas 2009

So maybe I will catch up on some of my blogging afterall!

To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot these days...so I don't have too many details of what happened 2-3 months ago, but there are a few things that I do want to remember....

1. Adam came over to put up our Christmas lights and Chris helped. I think it was the coldest day we had all year, but Will was dying to go outside and see what they were up to. So I bundled him up as much as he would let me and took him outside. He hates to wear hats and isn't a big fan of coats either...so really the only way I could convince him to put it all on was to tell him he had to dress up like daddy...which meant he needed sunglasses too! So here is what mini Chris looked liked...

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I can't believe I didn't think to take a picture of Chris too! I think we only lasted about two minutes outside and then Will was content to try to figure out what was going on from inside the house. It really was so cold that day.

2. Will had his second Christmas program. This year was about the same as last year. He pretty much sat on the stage the entire program and stared out into the audience while the other kids either participated in the program or played amongst themselves. He did decide to do two of the hand motions in the very last song of the program...that was exciting!

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3. Lolli and I took Will to see Santa Claus at the mall. He was very interested in him, but not so sure that he wanted to sit on his lap. Luckily, the Santa Claus at the mall is very good with kids and he was able to convince Will to sit in his lap by reading a book to him.

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Afer reading to him a little bit, we tried to get Will to smile at the camera and it was just not happening until I had a stroke of genius and quoted a line from Elf that always makes him laugh - "What's a Christmas gram? I want one!" And sure enough, it made him laugh for this one picture!

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4. Just a picture of us that I like... :)

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It is rare that we get our picture made together.

5. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lacey asked if they could take Will on the Polar Express and Lolli went too! I took this picture when I left him with Lolli....

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I heard that he cuddled with Uncle Jeff most of the ride. He turns into a big cuddler when he gets tired and I guess the train had a soothing effect.

This also happened to be the night of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and I surprised Chris with tickets for a Christmas date. We both really liked the show even though our seats weren't great. Chris wants to go back next year so I will have to get the tickets earlier so we can get better seats. It really was pretty amazing.

6. We did Christmas morning with my family at our house this year. It felt a little strange since we have done Christmas morning at my parents' house for as long as I can remember. But I think it worked out well for everyone and we will probably do it again.

I don't think I took any pictures Christmas morning because I was cooking breakfast plus trying to watch Will enjoy the day. I made monkey bread for everyone that came over early (Pop, Lolli, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Lacey, & Grammy) and then I made sausage bread and my mom made an egg casserole and banana nut bread for everyone that came over later in the morning.

We went to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and we did manage to get few pictures there...

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Will has been really into taking pictures himself lately. Here is just one of the many he took...this one of Uncle Cole...

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Christmas was really special this year! It was the first Christmas that I think Will got a grasp on what was going on. We had a lot of talks about it being Jesus's birthday and that was the reason we had Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and gave each other presents. Every morning when he woke up before Christmas, he wanted to turn the lights on the Christmas tree and anytime we were out at night, he wanted to drive around and look at Christmas lights. The lights in our neighborhood were his favorite and the blow-up Grinch a couple of blocks from our house was his most favorite of all. It was convenient, but anytime we tried to look at lights anywhere else he would say that he wanted to go see the Grinch and he would always say, "That's my favorite!" when we drove by. He hasn't seen the movie, so I'm not sure why it was his favorite. Speaking of movies, he did grow quite fond of the movie Elf and we watched it countless times. He can quote a lot of the movie while he watches it now...which is hilarious. I was afraid it might stick around even after Christmas, but I think he has only wanted to watch it a few times in the last couple of months.

Overall, it was a great Christmas and we made some fun memories this year! I was a little worried that Will would be really upset when we took down the tree and could no longer go look at Christmas lights, but he actually handled it very well. He did ask about it quite a bit at first, but I would just tell him that Christmas was over and we would do it all again next year and he just said, "Oh"...which is a pretty common response from him when he is trying to digest information. Every now and then he will still randomly ask, "Christmas is over?" His little mind is funny! I can't wait to see what Christmas will be like next year as a family of FOUR!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Baby Stuff

Since I feel like there are so many pregnant ladies around me these days and because I am getting ready for baby #2's arrival myself, I thought I would put together a list of some of my favorite baby items from when Will was a baby.

I linked each item to a place you can buy it, so click on the item if you are interested! Don't worry - I am not getting compensated in any way by writing these reviews and providing links...just trying to be helpful. :)

1. Angelcare Monitor* - This is probably my all-time favorite and I recommend it any chance I get. It is not just any monitor. Not only does it work like any other monitor, it also has a motion sensor pad that you put under the crib mattress that is so sensitive it can detect if your baby is breathing. If it doesn't detect breathing, the alarm goes off.

We did have a few false alarms when we used this with Will because apparently babies can get into such a deep sleep that their breathing becomes extremely light and hard to detect. Even so, I didn't mind dealing with the false alarms every now and then for the peace of mind it gave me 99.9% of the time. I even read one theory that if you do get a false alarm, the baby may have been getting into too deep of a sleep and being startled by the sound of the alarm may have been needed. If it weren't for this monitor, I think I would have gotten a lot less sleep in those first few months (and we all know it's not much sleep to begin with!).

We did have Will sleep in our room for a few nights after we came home from the hospital, but we quickly realized that none of us were getting much sleep with that arrangement. So we ended up moving Will to his crib very early on and I don't think I would have been able to do that if we didn't have this monitor. We all slept so much better!

We stopped using the sensor part of the monitor when Will was 6-7 months old because that is when he started rolling around a lot. If he rolled too far to the edge of the crib, the sensor couldn't detect his breathing...so we started getting a lot of false alarms and at that age, the sound of the alarm would sometimes wake him up. The alarm typically didn't wake him up when he was younger, so we would just check on him and turn the alarm off.

*Ours only has one unit, but I couldn't find it online. I did see the one unit version at Babies R Us today.

2. Happiest Baby On The Block DVD * - We received this as a gift when we were in the hospital and I didn't get around to watching it until Will was a couple of weeks old. At that point, it was a last resort because I didn't know what to do when he cried for 3 hours straight during the night no matter what we did. Not even trying to feed him would calm him down!

So basically, the DVD just teaches a soothing technique. It consists of the 5 S's - swaddling, shushing, swinging, side/stomach position, and sucking. When I watched the video, I thought, "Yeah right, that won't work with MY baby." But sure enough, when we did everything just like the video taught, it almost always worked with Will for the first 3-4 months of his life. After watching, I couldn't believe that I had waited until Will was two-weeks-old to watch it! That doesn't sound like a lot of missed time now, but those first two weeks felt like an eternity at the time!

I even downloaded a hairdryer recording from a website called www.calm-your-screaming-baby.com (haha!) and put as many tracks of it that would fit on a cd and we would play it anytime he needed to calm down (this is the "shusing" part of the 5 S's). We had three copies of the cd - one in the cd player in his room, one in the cd player in our living room, and one in my car.

We ended up using it as white noise in his room anytime he slept and he actually still slept to the hairdryer sound up until a few months ago when the cd player in his room broke. And now he sleeps just fine without white noise...so I know it didn't ruin him for life or anything like that!

*I have never been able to find this DVD sold in a store. There is also a book that can be found in most bookstores or libraries, but I think the DVD is far more helpful. If you live near me, I will be happy to let you borrow mine if you promise to give it back!


3. Chicco Cortina Travel System - Just in case you are unaware, a travel system is basically a matching stroller and carseat. The carseat snaps into the stroller so that you can easily move your baby from the car to the stroller without bothering him too much.

I originally decided to get the Chicco Cortina system because I read that it wasn't as heavy as some of the other travel systems and it was easy to open and close the stroller and snap the carseat in and out of it. I also really liked the simple look of it. I've never really been a fan of the patterned strollers and carseats...especially for boys.

Once I tested it out in the store, I was sold. I could definitely feel the difference in the weight from the other travel systems (although any carseat is heavy once your baby gets over 12 pounds or so) and I did find it very easy to use as well.

Now that I have had the travel system for almost three years, I can most definitely say it was one of our best buys. The stroller and carseat are still in great condition and I will be using them again with Reed. But there is more! When Will was a little over a year old, we flew to South Carolina to visit my grandparents. You can gate check strollers (and FYI, it doesn't count as one of your bags), so as we were boarding one of our flights, Chris was trying to quickly get the stroller to fold up and something broke. I was very upset and thought there was nothing we could do, but I decided to call Chicco and see if maybe there was a part we could replace. I briefly explained the problem to the lady that answered the phone and she told me they would send me a new stroller at no charge....and they did! That is the best customer service I have ever received, so I am now a fan for life and tell everyone I can to buy this travel system!

I will say that it probably won't be the only stroller you will ever want. We actually have two other strollers. One is an umbrella stroller (also Chicco) and it is better for Will at the age he is now and the other is a jogging stroller that I borrrowed.

4. Noodle & Boo Ultimate Ointment* - I bought a bottle of this to use as diaper cream before Will was born. I was a little bit shocked by the price, but I had heard it was really good so I bought it anyway. Let me just say that we used this on Will's bottom everyday of his life for the first year and we still use it to this day (although only when needed now). The same bottle. Yes, the bottle I bought almost three years ago. It is running low, but there is still some in there! He has never once had diaper rash and we have also used it for dry or irritated places on other parts of his body. It is really a great thing to have on hand! I will be getting another bottle soon for Reed.



*I bought the bottle we we have at Holly Hocks. It is a 4 oz. bottle and was over $20. It looks like the 2.5 oz. tube may be the only size they sell these days.

5. Ultimate Crib Sheet - This is basically a flat waterproof pad that snaps onto the crib to put on top of your normal crib sheet. Now if you haven't ever had to change a crib sheet in the middle of the night due to an accident of any kind, this probably makes no sense at all. However, the first time you find yourself having to untie and retie all the pieces of your crib bumper in the middle of the night just to be able to change a crib sheet, you will be wishing you had this wonderful invention!

Up until today, I just had one of these but there were a couple of times that I wished that I had two so that on the nights when there was more than one accident, I could easily switch them out and wash the dirty one. So I picked another one up at Babies R Us today and I know that I will be glad I did.

Another thing that should be noted about the Ultimate Crib Sheet is that you don't have to sacrifice the look of your nursery for it. Since it lays flat on top of your normal crib sheet, you can still see your cute crib sheet that matches everything else in the nursery and it never has to get dirty!

So these are my top five must-haves if you are about to welcome a new baby into the world...I hope this list is helpful to someone out there! :) If I discover anything else in the coming months, I will be sure to let you know!