dyson dc14

Why, you ask, is the title and 1st picture for this post a vacuum cleaner? Because it was my better half tonight. Will broke out in one of his worst hysterics (for no apparent reason), and I knew the only thing he needed was to go to sleep. Since I could tell he was sleepy, I had tried rocking and soothing him for a good half hour BEFORE the hysterics began. It kept up so bad that he started sounding like he was hyperventilating (don't worry, he was NOT hungry, I'd fed him plenty just 35 min. earlier). Since the typical dancing, "ch-ch-ing", lightly bouncing on the edge of the spare bed with Will in my arms wasn't working, I desperately went for the Dyson. Holding Will in my arms and gently vacuuming back and forth with my left hand did the trick immediately. SO weird! But I'm so very glad it worked. He's fast asleep in his crib now.

On a cute note, here are Will's 4 month birthday pics. Yes, this month it was more difficult to get him to sit still in his chair without toppling over!
TAKE 1













TAKE 2













TAKE 3













TAKE 4

More Christmas-ing

Will passed out in Daddy's arms "air plane" style. This is one of my favorite pics. Will still gets pretty fussy at night and this is one of the ways we soothe him to sleep. Jeff is WAY better at this than me (could be the fact that Will is so HEAVY)!













My dad and Will looking so dapper! Grandpa is holding William in one of my new favorite outfits that he'll soon outgrow.

First Christmas

Will has had many family advenures down in Louisville with his Kentucky side of the family! Here you will see his Grandma Donna teaching him how to play cards.











From fussy to fast asleep in the swing at Will's Grandparent's house!

Will loves playing under his play mat with Grandpa.

Will with his Grandma Donna and Great Grandma Mimi

Soaking Up...

...the last couple weeks of maternity leave.

Not so little anymore

After several comments out at the fashion mall yesterday, Jeff and I said to one another: "Hey let's weigh Will on our scale and measure him with our tape measure and just see if they're right." Will was a wonderful shopper, and he had many "how adorable" comments from people passing by. But the comments didn't stop there. Several people inquired about how old Will was and after telling them, their reactions were priceless. Wow...Only four months?!...Big Boy...Oh!

We got on the web to use a baby weight/height percentile calculator and found that our "not so little boy" is in the 75th-90th percentile for height (26 inches) and he's in the 50th-75th percentile for weight (16 lbs). Sad as it is (that he's not such a teeny infant anymore), we are really happy that Will is growing b/c it means he's healthy!

First Time With Santa!

On Sunday, my mom and I took Will to see Santa at Castleton Square Mall, but then I lost the picture (bummer)! So Will and I went back to see him today. You can see that Will is in a nap daze in this picture. He had just woken up right before I dumped him onto Santa's lap!
P.S. I ran into an old friend from college in line to see Santa. Her 8 month old girl is just now 16 pounds...and Will is 16 pounds at 3.5 months! Yep, we got a fat one folks. He was just a pip squeak when born, but not anymore!


As we were leaving the mall, Will was in a great mood smiling away!

Will Meets Exersaucer

Best $20 purchase I've made. We plop Will in the exersaucer about 10 min. after his bottle has settled, and he stays upright playing for a good 20 more minutes. It is so nice to see him play independently with the toys around this center. It was my first Craig's List purchase, and it won't be the last! Jeff's reaction when I told him I was bringing home an exersaucer: Can't wait to see what this thing is. He wasn't as enthusiastic about it as I was...Let's just say it takes up a lot of space. But it occupies Will and is perfect for his age, so I am very pleased with my purchase. =)

Daddy Duty

Came home from a cookie exchange to find Will asleep in his car seat, in the living room, still in his clothes for the day. Love Daddy duty! =) I really was very thankful that Jeff watched Will so I could go have some time for me with friends. So it's totally alright if he does things a little (okay a LOT) different than I do.

In all honesty, I agree with his dad that Will is very content and happy to sleep cuddled up in his car seat. If he's happy, I'm happy!!

Jolly Old St. Chubby Cheek Nicholas

Will's now on his second formula in three weeks. This one has added rice cereal in it to try to help with all the spit up. It adds a few extra calories to his meals, as you can tell! =) Due to the added thickness in this formula, the poor guy is plugged up! So now the nurse tells us to give him 3 ounces of prune juice a day. I think it hurts his tummy, so we may get off this stuff soon. We'll see. Oh the joys of tummy issues! He was bound to get it following in his Daddy and Grandma Sue's footsteps...
Correction-- I was wrong! Found out the Enfamil Lipil A.R. doesn't have extra calories after all! A friend from high school who's a rep for Enfamil has helped us out majorly, and she informed us that there is no calorie difference. So I guess Will's chubby cheeks are just him! Love them =)

Smiles & Rolls

We now see tons of smiles and hear baby coos from Willy-bean. Yes, somehow that nick name began and has stuck. For now at least. =)

Please excuse my obnoxious commentary on the short videos below. Next time I record something for the blog, I will either 1) not talk or 2) figure out how to edit so there's no sound of my voice and silly comments.

3 Month Pictures!

You can view the rest of Will's pictures from The Picture People by clicking HERE. They will be available to view until the end of January. It was so much fun!

Thanksgiving Pics

Mom and Dad wanted a family pic for their Christmas card. I think it turned out nice!

Makenna, Drew, Madeline, Will, Crew, and Addi!
My cousin's sweet kids meeting Will
LEFT: Sweet Madi with me and Will.
Below: cute lil' Lilly holding Will.

Let's ROLL!

The day after Thanksgiving is here and almost gone. I love the day after because it usually entails a little less food, a little less noise, and a lot of reflecting on good times with family. This year, we have so much to be thankful for! We had a wonderful turkey day in Anderson with my family (we rotate Thanksgivings year to year). The food was delicious and it was so nice to be in the company of family. Will also surprised us by rolling over 3 times from his belly to back! I think he may have been showing off for everyone. Seeing all the family huddled around little Will on the floor baby talking back and forth with him was priceless. A memory I hope I never forget.

Happy day after Thanksgiving to you and yours with love!

Here's a pic of Will at his 3 month birthday (Nov. 25th).

Night Time Venting

When I read that other babies are sleeping 12 hours at night, it is hard not to get jealous. But this PERFECT child of ours that God graciously gave us isn't any different in my eyes just because we can't classify him as an easy baby or one that I read about in the books. OH THE BOOKS... I'm about the throw 'em out. They only make me worry and feel frustrated. While we try all the suggestions, I have learned that you can't expect all babies to sleep through the night at the same age because each child is unique and different. And these crazy authors who have idealistic views must have never had a baby of their own with colic, gas, and acid reflux. So there. I put it out there. I'm done with the books...They have tried to take away the joy of infant-hood from me and I won't let them do that. =) The Lord just thought we were strong enough to handle the challenges of my high risk pregnancy, insane delivery, a week long NICU stay, and now a little one who isn't an easy sleeper. BUT being blessed with a baby at all is something Jeff and I treasure and give thanks for. Will is thriving and meeting all of his milestones, so who cares about sleeping through the night. He WILL do it eventually. In the long run, these difficult nights will seem like forever ago. We may even look back and laugh at ourselves and how I even fell down the stairs one night in my sleep deprived stupor (thankfully I was not holding Will)! For now, I'm going to love each moment, even the tired ones. =)

Could it be....?

Is it possible that my little 3 month old could be teething already?! Apparently it is possible! Not 100% sure, but the drool over the past week has significantly picked up, he's obsessed with trying to fit his fist in his mouth, and the fussiness has picked back up. Just when I thought the worst of his colicky days were behind us, we hit a road block this weekend. It was rough (on mom & dad that is). Not a whole lot of sleep for us this weekend! Will had a couple rough bouts throughout the evening hours when nothing would console him as well as in the middle of the night when he just wanted to be held. Nana told us that Jeff cut his first tooth when he was 3 months old, and Grandma told us that Uncle Brent cut his first tooth when he was 4 months old. So we know it is in the family to teeth early....LOVELY. Oh well, maybe it's better to get it over with?!

Who knows...I could be DEAD WRONG... but the mega-drool has me very suspicious.

I've posted a few family pictures that my friend Stacie Olvier took for us! See the posting "Snap Snap" for more.

There's NO way!

The nurse plopped my big boy on the baby scale and it came up reading 10 POUNDS. Absolutely no way could he have lost a whole pound and a half in the past 3 weeks! I had that worried mother look as we walked back to the room. Thankfully, the machine was WRONG! When we put Will on the other scale, it read 13 lbs. 14 oz. so what a difference. That is more like it! He gained 2 and 1/2 pounds in just 22 days--hefty hefty hefty! So why did we go to the doctor anyway?! For a 'sick visit' but nothing major. On Friday, he deveoped a red
bumpy rash on his tummy so I gave it a few days before calling the doctor. Sure enough, it didn't get any better, so we made an appointment on Tuesday (with my good friend Megan - the nurse practitioner - since Dr. Keller wasn't free that day). It was so fun seeing Megan and she took great care looking over Will and explaining everything to me. Will just has a case of sensitive skin- most likely got the rash from the adult detergent we've been throwing his clothes in (to make laundry easier). Gotta go back to the expensive Dreft detergent, so I'll be on a coupon hunt!

Snap...Snap...

That's the sound of my friend Stacie's camera the other night in Holliday Park! Stacie graciously took pictures of our family (the ENTIRE family...which means Jones was included)! I recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer...check out our pictures by clicking here to visit Stacie's blog.

Big Day!

Sunday was Will's baby dedication at East 91st Street Christian Church! We dedicated our little one to the Lord and committed ourselves to raising & telling Will all about Jesus and how to follow Him. This is a mighty big task...one we will have to rely on God, our parents, and church to help support us in!

It was a beautiful sunny fall day! We enjoyed having both sets of parents with us for the church service and back to our house for chili & desert.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."