7 months

Shut your mouth, look who's sitting!



No seriously....I am.


What a big month for Will, he is finally sitting upright by himself...I can hear the angelic chorus now... no more heavy lifting for mama. I can put him on the ground and he can sit... ..and he can play and entertain himself. He is a busy one for sure. He grabs, flails, hits, tears up any paper in reach. Bath time is a mess and he has finally moved from sink bath to bathtub this month. Gotta contain that splashing!
He is still very sweet and content most of the time. The nursery workers love him and ask us if he ever cries. They call him the "observer" which is what we have called him since birth. He watches everything and is a sweetie for strangers. But he does cry trust me. He is beginning to get a little clingy. Before, I could put him in the exersaucer and leave the room to put laundry in the dryer (or heck..go to the bathroom) without him paying attention or minding. Now he cries when I leave. He wants to be entertained or at least have us there for moral support while he plays. Along with this, has come one of the sweetest things ever. He reaches for us now to pick him up out of the jumper or exersaucer. I love it! He smiles so big when we go in his room to get him up in the morning or from nap. It makes him so happy just being with us. His sleeping habits have changed over the month. We are now down to 2 naps a day. The morning nap last about 1 and 1/2 hours the afternoon varies. I do mean varies! Yesterday he slept 1 whole hour! Yikes! Today, he just woke up from a 3 hour nap. Yesterday, I said "no way buddy are you getting up already" and so I plopped him in our bed and laid down with him thinking he would fall back asleep. Nope, he talked to himself and me for 1 and 1/2 hours before finally going to sleep. He slept there about 45 mins and it. was. precious. He is precious and I just thanked the Lord that I could lay there with him for a total of about 2 1/2 hours on a Monday afternoon. I am so thankful that I get to stay at home with him and soak up these baby days. The sacrifices are worth it for afternoons like these... This won't last forever and I'm enjoying the time I have with him.

Moving on to some developments during month 7:

•  12-18 month clothes; 18 months fits him the best in the length, upper body it is still baggy.
•  24 lbs,  inches who knows
• Eating: 4 (8oz bottles) a day with a snack bottle (3oz) right before afternoon nap. We have found that the 3 oz snack helps him sleep longer in the afternoon.  If he doesn't have it, 10:30 to 4 is a long time without a bottle and he won't stay asleep during the afternoon nap.
• Usually the 3oz of formula starts out in a sippy cup at lunch and he drinks what is left of it from a bottle before nap.
• 3 solid food meals a day, I just added breakfast about 2 weeks ago. Meal time includes about 5 oz of baby food each sitting. And puffs of course! He has gotten the hang of those finally.
• We have added butternut squash, pears and oatmeal this month in addition to sweet potatoes, peas, banana, carrots, apples, green beans....and he loves all of it! He warmed up to green beans after we made him keep eating them. He definitely prefers my baby food to the food in the jar but he is not one to turn down food :)
• Working on the sippy cup. Sometimes he is interested in it other times not.
• Making noises, humming, bahh, guh, etc. No actual words of course.
• Slapping his hand on surfaces. Loves to slap. Slapping Ray, who is fearful I think. "For 6 months this baby did nothing and all of a sudden he is grabbing me", Ray says. Just wait until he can crawl, then Ray will have to hightail it.
• Loves sitting on the floor playing with toys, jumper is still a favorite, exersaucer is losing its appeal.
• Does not like the changing table!!! He loved this until this last month. Now he cries when we put him on it. I can't tell if he just doesn't want to be still or because he is done with laying on his back. And you do not try to change his diaper immediately after nap...that is bottle time and he will cry his eyes out if he doesn't get it first!

Here is our daily schedule at 7 months:
7:00 wake time (8oz bottle)
7:30 baby food (3 oz oatmeal; 2 oz of fruit)
9:00 nap
10:30 wake (8oz bottle)
11:00 lunch (5 oz fruit and veggie)
12:30 or 1 (3oz) bottle and immediately goes down for a nap)
3:30 or 4 ideally he takes a 2 1/2 or 3 hour nap at this time. Most time he does on the rare occasion he does not then he will require a catnap around 5. 8 oz bottle when he wakes.
6 dinner (5 oz fruit and veggies)
7:30 8 oz bottle and bedtime

Of course this schedule does change as anyone who has a child knows...but most days we hover around these times.

This month, T and Pop built Will a bookcase for the nursery. I was trying to take a picture of him with it and he just plopped over. Not 100% stable sitting up unfortunately.


But we love our bookcase and now have somewhere to put the baby books he got from all those showers. We try to read a book before nap time at least once a day. One book we LOVE is the Jesus Storybook Bible. Will got it for Christmas and I just love reading that book to him. I try to read it to him once a day, but honestly it is more for me at this point. It is so sweet and innocent, the story of God's love for us and plan of redemption written for children! It makes me tear up a lot.
We as adults study theology and apologetics, deeper things... all good things, just deeper. It is good to be reminded of the simplicity of love, the love that God had for us before the beginning of time. His plan from the very beginning not to leave us here in this colossal mess we made by sinning. A plan for redemption that comes from love. It is refreshing to read this through a child's eyes.


Well that is 7 months, mark it down.

Some Things....

Some things I'm doing and or loving right now just to bring everyone a "non-baby" update...

1. The Keurig- After C'mas we bought a Keurig. It just made since b/c I drink coffee EVERY day so I figured it would be worth it have one. It is life changing!!! I love it so much it is ridiculous. My favorite coffee so far is the Caribou coffee. But I went ahead and bought the my k-cup thing so that I could put my own coffee in it too. This is so I don't have to work in a coffee budget to our finances! I'm flying through k-cups over here.

2. Running- I love when I'm done with my training run but hate my existence while I'm doing it. T and I just finished week 1 of 1/2 marathon training. Yay, only 13 more to go! Our long run was on Saturday and was supposed to be 4 miles. T and I ran through the downtown area whilst he pushed the jogging stroller leisurely and I quasi vomited on the side of the road. Just kidding, it never got that far but there was a lot of walking on my part that I'm not proud of. Downtown is hilly. During the run, I was thinking this is lasting FOREVER. When we got home we learned that we had actually run 4.7 miles instead of 4. T had not calculated correctly. Week before last was the first time I had run a mile in a year and a half. And during that time period I ate like crap, sat on the couch, grew a fetus inside of me and birthed a child. So, to say that my body was ready to handle a 4.7 mile run would be a lie. But it did...by some miracle and I have to thank my awesome husband for sticking with me the whole time!

3. Parenthood- We have been netflix streaming Parenthood. How have I missed this show??? I love it and every episode nearly brings me to tears at some point. So well written. I really like all the family dynamics going on. Does anyone have any other suggestions for good TV shows we can stream???

4 Kinect- We got an Xbox kinect for c'mas. It was random but we wanted some type of gaming system and the xbox lets us stream netflix right the TV so we just pulled the trigger.  So this kinect lets "you be the controller" and when you move the avatar on the screen moves which is really cool. The first time we played it, Taylor was playing and jumping around and Ray promptly jumped onto the couch and launched himself onto Taylor. Best of all the Kinect has a camera that takes pictures while you play and yes, it caught this attack by Ray on camera.

5. Tervis Tumbler travel cup with lid- This is helping me drink more water so it is a good thing. I dislike water so after pregnancy and breastfeeding attempts were over, I stopped drinking it. Like period. It has been bad...really bad. It's not like I drink a bunch of soda in its place, I just don't drink anything. Yes and that has come with the price of dehydration headaches. Told you, bad. So, in an effort to be healthier and to properly hydrate my body for running, I have started drinking water again. Before, I didn't like pouring a glass of water because I don't drink it fast enough and the glass would always end up sweating and ice melting etc. Makes a mess so I just didn't want to deal with it. This tumbler really doesn't sweat and I swear the ice doesn't melt as fast.

Well those are some no-baby related subjects for you all to ponder on. Please let me know what tv series you guys stream or watch.

6 Months!

How did time go by so fast!

Wow I can't believe our little bit is half a year old! The time just flies by.

Will is the sweetest baby I have ever met. Maybe I'm just bias but I think he is a good little man. He is still very content and calm.

And he is still an observer. He will size you up before smiling at you if he doesn't know you. But then, once he has given you the once over look he will smile and talk. He is a thinker.

He is chewing constantly now. His favorite teething toy is the giraffe and those "lots of link" rings. We have a chain of about 4 of them and he loves to sling them around like a whip. He is going to whack himself in the face with them one day and then learn to be more gentle I'm afraid.

He loves his brother Ray and will grab a hand full of fur if given the opportunity


Ray loves him too and gives him sniffs about a million times a day...yuck! Most sniffs are in the face but some are in the nether region...especially if Will is on his tummy, Ray takes advantage of that position. Why do dogs do that?! Ray also sniffs Will's toy stuffed animals' butts. The recent victim has been the newly acquired laugh and learn puppy from Adam and Ashley.

I digress...back to preciousness.

We went for Will's 6 month check up yesterday. He is still well above 95th percentile weighing in at a whooping 22 lbs 7 oz with a length of 30 inches! Wowzers. No wonder this mommy has lower back pain.

He is wearing 9 to 12 months with 12 months really fitting him best. We are flying through clothing over here so if any of you boy moms care to donate to the "cloth Will" cause...12 month footie pjs are in demand. Promise we will take care of them :) Other than footies, I can deal with Will's pant legs coming to his shin.

Some facts about Will at 6 months:

• Sleeps from 8pm to 7 or 7:30pm
• Naps 3 times a day. Naps are getting shorter so I feel like one nap will be dropped sooner than later. Naps are 1-2 hours just depending.
• No sleeping in the stroller anymore when we are out. He is too busy looking around even when he is sleepy. So he naps in the car seat or in the crib. That's it.
• He loves rolling front to back and then back to front. He figured out how to get off his tummy by rolling to his back the week before Christmas and he has been much happier since then. He now sleeps on his tummy some.

• He can do 10 push ups. J/k this pic was a fluke but he is starting to lift himself off his belly just for a second. He moves his arms and legs like he is swimming when on belly. It won't be long until he figures out that he has to get his knees under him to move.
• He is eating 2 meals a day consisting of 4 oz baby food at each meal. He eats lunch and dinner and I am about to add breakfast to that. He eats carrots, peas, green beans, apples, sweet potatoes, bananas and prunes. 
• We are going to now start practicing with a sippy cup and eating puffs to work on some basic "feeding yourself" skills. We tried the sippy cup last night with formula and he just played with it. But it is a start!
• He is blowing bubbles, mimicing sounds and reaching for EVERYTHING! Watch your hair or earrings. 
• He is very busy on the changing table now...running his hands on the wall, trying to turn over etc. 
• He is back to liking his paci. He takes it out and puts it back in his mouth. For awhile there he just wanted his thumb but maybe the paci is just fun to play with now.
• As you can see, not much hair. He has more on the sides than on the top but what he does have is still strawberry blonde. And he still has those crazy beautiful blue eyes like his dad.

We are so blessed to have this little boy in our lives. He makes our lives more complicated in a great way. The adjustment to having your first child is usually difficult to process because your life changes so dramatically. You can't ever just head out the door and run an errand or go to dinner. Everything revolves around this little person's schedule, feeding time, napping time etc. But the more you plan around them...the more routine it becomes. I like to think that T and I haven't really slowed down with Will. I still get out with him and do things. Yes, it is more complicated but it isn't impossible. Plus, I always have someone to talk to now when I'm out!

So things are good here. We are in a good place. I love this stage, 6 months. Not so needy and helpless but still needy enough. We are enjoying our days together and trying to soak up these days of babyhood. Before long we will be in toddlerhood and those will be good days too, they just won't be baby days.


Time goes by fast and as I look at these pictures I'm reminded of that. My puppy is 3 1/2 and looking old in the face. My baby who yesterday couldn't hold his head up or sleep through the night...is ripping said puppy's hair out and whacking him with grasping little hands. It goes by fast yall! The past is gone and the future isn't ours yet, all we have is today. I'm trying to make my "today" meaningful!

Happy New Year!

New Brooks running shoes purchased....

Nashville half marathon registered for! I resolve to run my butt off in 2012...Yay!

Anyone want to join me? Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas Recap

Christmas has come and gone. We took all the decorations down day before yesterday and got the house all cleaned up. Christmas was wonderful this year and we really soaked up the blessing we were given in 2011. Our little man, Will loved opening his gifts from both sides of the family. He really loved the paper...as do most 6 month olds. My parents and sister came to stay with us on the 22nd. We opened presents and did our Christmas dinner on the evening of the 23rd. More on that later. Will opened his gifts earlier in the day because we wanted to see how he reacted to the gifts and paper and such. In case you are wondering what to get a baby, paper. Will loved ripping the paper and putting it in his mouth. He was very meticulous about tearing it off the package...every move was determined guided by deep concentration. He could have sat there forever and ripped paper I think. And of course, he was the center of attention. We all just watched him play with his toys, open gifts..etc. It is nice to be the center of attention...right? Later that evening we had dinner and I actually used the fine china. I have never used the dinner plates! In 5 1/2 years of marriage not once have we eaten dinner off them. So, this year...we used them. We had ham, corn casserole, green beans, squash casserole and an array of dessert items. Very typical Christmas dinner but everything was yummy! After dinner we opened gifts and my mom thought Ray would look "pretty" with a red bow tied around his neck. And so she did put the red bow around his neck...and he disliked it greatly. So it came off rather quickly. He never wears a collar except on walks so this bow was not happening. The next day was Christmas Eve or December 24th, Allison's birthday. She had a tiny gift unwrapping helper this year. Will spent some time hanging out on the floor with his bald twin, Pappy... Lounging around...

And practicing sitting up Christmas Eve we went our church's Candlelight Service. It was packed and we stood in the back. Will was SO good! He never made a peep. He just watched the big screen tvs in the sanctuary...he loves TV! Oh dear! But at least it kept him occupied while all the other kids in the service were having meltdowns. Our token family Christmas pic in front of the tree.


Christmas Day, my parents went home and we headed over to Guntersville to do Christmas with T's side of the family. His mom had an unfortunate accident on Christmas Eve and ended up with a broken arm due to a fall down the stairs. So Taylor's dad and I cooked Christmas dinner which consisted of prime rib, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls. It was delish! We had lots of fun hanging out with the cousins. Opening presents was a little chaotic with 3 little ones roaming around but it was exciting. Another thing that I did this year was make salt dough ornaments for the "kids". Thank you pinterest. I think they turned out pretty good. They were a little "fluffy". I'm SO glad that we did this though. I want to remember those little hands and feet forever! We got a couple of hand prints from Will and one of his footprints. Our hardest ornament was Ray's pawprint. When he wasn't freaking out that we were trying to put his paw on the dough, he was trying to eat it! So he would fight us and pull away from the dough, but when we finally got him close enough to get his paw in it, he would try to reach down and eat it. It took a few attempts to get his. So hopefully they will not break by next year. I didn't spray them or mod podge them. Anyone done this without coating them? Did they hold up. I wrapped them in bubble wrap and put them in the attic.



Some upcoming posts will include a 6 month post for baby Will (ped visit next Tuesday) and some news on the running front. Taylor and I are going to run the Nashville 1/2 marathon. I'm putting this on the blog for accountablilty because I kinda feel like I've lost my mind committing to this. Did I run a 1/2 marathon when I was in shape and running 4 days a week??...no. Am I going to run a 1/2 marathon while starting out in the worst shape of  my life, post baby?....yes...what the heck! Oh well, here goes nothing I guess. I'm sure I will have a few running posts in the future. There may be a lot of complaining so that is just a fair warning to anyone who may still read this blog. Happy New Year!

"God rest you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay" "Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day" "To save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray"
"O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy" "O tidings of comfort and joy!"

We are getting ready for Christmas around here and have a busy week planned. We took a couple pics in front of the tree last night. Which is difficult when a baby is trying to grab ornaments off the tree. We have family coming into town this week and plans to do some cooking and hanging out so, if I do not blog before C'mas, we hope that you all have a blessed day with family and loved ones"

Easy Chicken Recipe

We eat chicken ALOT. So I'm always looking for another way to prepare it that is easy. My mom shared with me this recipe that I tried this week. It was so yummy and easy that I had to share.

chicken breasts, 1 egg, frenches fried onions (the things you use for green bean casserole), and that's it!

crush up the fried onions in a ziplock, dip chicken in egg then throw in the bag of onions things so it is well coated. If you still have some bare spots after coating just place the onion flakes on the chicken once you have them laying on the baking sheet.
Bake at 350 for 45  mins on a baking sheet coated with a  little pam.  So easy and yummy!

I made too much of it and put the left overs in the fridge. I have been slicing it up this week and putting it on salad cold with a little light honey dijon dressing. Taste like a friend chicken salad.