Will's First Christmas and Birthday!

Will had his first Christmas and his first birthday last week! (And he also went through his second New Years, but again he slept through it, so much less exciting.)

Will loved Christmas. Half of the gifts he crawled up on and ripped through the wrapping paper, the other half Katie gleefully helped him unwrap (she was an unwrapping machine this year!) Christmas prepared him well for his birthday, which he was able to unwrap the gifts mostly himself.

My little boy is barely a baby, not in size or in age anymore. He's now a little toddling toddler! He's also a little crazy chewing machine. He has 4 molars coming in, which are constantly a discomfort for him. There's never a moment when he's awake where he's not trying to gnaw on something, from toys, to the edge of his pack and play, to some part of me that he can get into his mouth. I can't wait for them to break though, his little gums look swollen from the big teeth coming up.

There's roughly a million pictures from Christmas and birthday combined, so I'll (try to) just put up a few...

My Eleven Month Old!

It's so hard to believe, but Will is so close to being a full year old now! His birthday is coming up, and no matter how much I try to push off planning it, it's still racing by and will be here in only 4 weeks.

I can't believe I've had him for a year. It was the fastest year of my life but I've experienced so much and learned a lot. I remember when I was pregnant, I was nervous to have a boy. I had been spoiled with having a girl - I could do her hair, dress her in frilly, ruffly, pretty things, buy her bows and shoes and everything beautiful. What did boys have? I didn't like sports, boy clothes are not so exciting, and there were no frills for boys - no hair dos or bows or anything. I was worried that after having a girly girl, a boy would be boring.

Obviously, I had no idea what I was talking about. Having a boy has been so enriching. While I still don't get to dress him up in frilly things with bows on top, I get to have a little boy who loves his mommy, who treats me like the only person in his whole world. I have a little boy who looks up at me in adoration in a way Katie did not. Katie loved, and still loves, everyone. She's so social, she was a daddy's girl from the start. Will? He acts like he doesn't even realize there's other people in this world, and if there are, they're second rate to his mommy. There's such a special bond between he and I, made from a little boy's love and all the hours of cuddling we've done throughout the last 11+ months. He is anything but boring! When I was pregnant, I looked at his gender like it was limiting, when I should have been anticipating his huge personality and how exciting and fun he is!

I'm so very grateful I got to experience both gender sides, because they're both so different and so wonderful. If you would have asked me before Will which gender I would lean towards wanting, my answer would probably have been girl every time. Now? I honestly can't say. When I think about the next baby, I can't decide what I want! I'd love to have another little boy to pal around with Will, to have eyes only for his mommy, to be so full of boyish charm. I'd love a little girl to dress up and do her hair and teach about princesses. But I could not decide between them! I'm so glad the decision is not up to me, because having experienced both genders, I don't think I could choose.

I'm sad to see 2014 go, because it was so full, with lots of learning and fun and getting to know my new little boy who is not so new anymore. The more he grows, the more he seems so perfect and wonderful and such a perfect part of our family.

My little handful and pure joy. <3

Nine and Ten Month Review

It's been so busy here, that I skipped a month! Will is now TEN months old!

He's growing like crazy, and he's barely a baby. He's a speed crawler, loves to climb everything (and can with ease), can walk along furniture and babbles constantly. He's still not a big eater when it comes to solids, but he continues to gain weight rapidly.

He's currently going through a napping strike, which has been rough. Yesterday, he woke up at 10 AM. He took a 20 minute nap at 1 PM, and that was it. Didn't nap again, and I spent over an hour trying to get him to sleep at 11 PM because he had refused each and every time throughout the day.  Today he's doing the same.

He's teething like crazy. He currently has 8 teeth fully in, but he's chewing terribly. I'm thinking he has more on the way. Poor baby never just gets one tooth in at a time, either.

Will loves to play, and crawl. His favorite thing is just being on the floor exploring, especially when his sister is with him. He loves to pet the doggies. His favorite things to see on tv is Blue's Clues and Bear in the Big Blue House (which is how I get my chores done!) He's very giggly, as long as he's not being put down. When I put him in his pack n' play now, he immediately stands up and tries to hike up his foot to escape. He's still a cuddle monster, which I hope never goes away. He's a great sleeper lately at night, perhaps because he's refusing naps more. But he sleeps solidly all night, only getting up about twice to nurse. He'll sleep from 11 PM to 11 AM usually.

He remains an outdoor baby, though it's hard to keep him outside now that it's so cold. He doesn't care though - no matter what the weather, he wants out there. He still screams when someone shuts the door and forgets that he wanted to go live out there from now on.

8 Months!

I just realized that I never updated for Will turning 8 months. It's been SUCH a busy last 4 weeks. I've had to throw a Bachelor Party, we went to our annual Dorney Park Day, Katie was a flower girl and I was a Best Man/Woman/Lady/Person thing at a wedding which we also had to attend rehearsals and such for...but NOW, I am totally free for the next month. No plans, no preparing, no millions of other projects I have a time restriction for. I can finally relax and just enjoy my babies.

Anyway, Will is now 8.5 months old! He's starting to do so many things. His words are slowly expanding. One he just started a few days ago is "good".  Every time he takes a bite to eat, I automatically say "good?" Now when he takes a bite, he looks up at me and says "goo". He says hi, dada (which he's only said while actually looking at Bill) mama (usually said when he's angry and really wants to be picked up right.this.minute) and one or two others.

Will loves Joe from Blue's Clues. Katie was always very firmly team Steve, but Will only likes Joe. He was crazy for Elmo, but Joe definitely wins now. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse also entertains him.

He's trying to crawl and walk at the same time. He's doing better with walking than crawling, funny enough. Whenever he tries to get up on his hands and knees and move forward, he tends to fall on his face. But he loves to stand up. If I hold him just for balance (he holds his weight) he will take one step after the other. He walked all the way across the room and to his daddy yesterday this way. His balance is still a little wonky, he sometimes steps on his own feet and nearly falls from it. But he's still doing well. He now enjoys slithering off the sofa (with me holding him) and standing instead of sitting or laying with me. He loves to stand and look like his own little person!

I'm about half way through the Dr. Sears book. I've been putting Will in his Maya sling lately for nap (which he went from hating to absolutely LOVING). While I walk him to sleep with the vacuum on, I read the book. It's doing wonders for me. Understanding better what's going on and why Will does the things he does and how to help him has really given me more sanity, patience, and feeling more in control instead of helpless.

He's becoming more of a morning person now. He used to sleep like Katie, who sleeps until about 11 AM. She LOVES her sleep. Will now wakes up between 7:30-9, which is an adjustment.

Will has so many teeth coming in at once! His top teeth just came through, and now he's getting both incisors in and two more bottom teeth. The one bottom tooth is completely through now, so he has 5 teeth out and three more about to break the surface. No wonder I'm always in pain! Those hurting teeth love to pierce me, take chunks out of me, and leave lovely looking holes. When one finally heals, another happens!

He's now 26.2 lbs (well, as of two weeks ago) and 31 inches. He's wearing 2T clothing, but even 2T pants can't be buttoned or zipped. I accidentally grabbed Katie's pants for him the one day and they STILL didn't zip up - Katie is 3 and he is 8 months. I don't even know what to do about that!

Poor little boy still has a cough, but it's only an occasional cough and it's pretty light. He gets a bit raspy some mornings. Since it's been 4 weeks, I believe it sort of confirms what I thought he may have had - a possibly minor case of Pertussis. He was vaccinated twice, but it takes 3 times for it to be in full effect. (Fully vaxed Katie never got the cold. Bill had a cold three weeks before and still occasionally has a cough even now, almost two months after he was sick) We both had a nasty cold, which we got over, but then had a nasty cough for about two weeks before I started looking up what may be going on. I'm glad I did so much research on it, including talking to people in his due date group who had babies going through it, because I know I took the best recourse. The hospital does not treat the Pertussis, because there is no actual cure for it. They treat the spreading of it (the first two weeks is when it's contagious, which is when we never left the house) and they treat the lack of breathing when the cough gets too bad (through steroids and apnea type machine). I decided, while waiting it out to see if he developed the whooping noise or if I was just very paranoid, to start treating him at home just in case. Medical journals said that there is one defense against Pertussis - lots of vitamin C. Pertussis causes mucous to pool in your lungs, and then destroys the hairs in your lungs and throat so you can't get the mucous back up. It blocks the white cells from killing the virus. So vitamin C takes away the blockage to fight and strengthens the hairs. Taking it makes lots of mucous come up so it gets out of your lungs.
Will never had the whooping cough. He never coughed to the point of blueness or gagging. But after I started the vitamin C doses, he did throw up a lot of mucous. I had lots come out as well. I'm 100% better - I never cough anymore. I felt cured about a week or so after I started the doses. Will improved a huge amount.
I've very carefully monitored him for the last 4 weeks. I was ready to rush him to the hospital the moment his cough turned too severe, the moment I saw him struggling to breathe, or any of the bad Pertussis signs. I actually had a bag packed. But after I started having him sleep at an angle, giving him vitamins, and doing what the medical journals all agreed on, he never gave me a reason to go. He still has a minor cough and minor rattling at times, but I noticed it usually only appears if I forgot a dosage due to being out of the house. I'm so pleased that he's doing well, especially because Pertussis is the worst between weeks 3-4. This is when he should be doing the "turning blue coughs" and choking.

Of course, it may be me looking too far into this. It could be a cold that just lingers with a cough for weeks on end. It could be something more minor. Either way, he's doing very well and what I'm doing for him is helping whatever it is that we've had. My many prayers have been answered!

Back to reading Dr. Sears

This little face has me constantly torn between feeling so blessed to have my magical little rainbow, and so stressed because he's SO different from what I was used to with Katie. Katie was such an easy baby. I've been saying Will is high needs for months now, and it's only continuing to grow.

Will is the absolute happiest baby you'll ever meet. He's the definition of sunshine and rainbows. 

 That is, as long as he's being held and if you don't deny him being outside, or ever make him go to sleep. No, not just like a normal baby. He can not sit down in anything, be it a swing, exersaucer, or highchair for more than two minutes without instantly screaming so hard he breaks out in a rash within seconds. He hates naps. He can't sit still ever - he needs to be held and moving at the same time at all times. He will not be distracted or self soothed. He will not stay asleep during nap times for more than 20 minutes without waking, and he fights sleep with everything he has. I honestly thought his "high needs" was just in my head. Maybe it was just because he's a baby combined with me taking care of a toddler, but Katie didn't do ANY of these things. She was so easy. 

Someone posted an article by Dr. Sears today. He was describing his high-needs child Hayden, who I remember reading about years ago. It was eye opening. While I have called Will high needs, I sort of assumed that he was just high needs in my mind. Turns out, he fit EVERY SINGLE thing Dr. Sears says. (Which is a baby being hyperactive and needing to be in motion at all times, fiercely resisting naps, being very intense, draining parents from needing SO much attention,  feeds frequently (Hah! Will has fed at least once an hour since he was born!) being very demanding and loudly doing so, awakens frequently, quickly frustrated, super sensitive (he actually states that babies can't handle things like blenders - just yesterday we discovered that Will was so upset with the blender noise when I made applesauce that he spent the rest of the day growling and screaming if we even got close the the blender! He's also terrified of the vacuum, something he normally loves, if I'm not holding him while it's on) can't put baby down, and separation sensitive, which Will super duper has. 

So, it looks like I'll be digging out my Dr. Sears books to find his "Fussy Baby" book (I'm hoping that's one that I have!) to figure out the best way to handle Will. I'm hoping there are ways to calm him down easier in there and make things smoother, and for me to understand him better. Katie was such an easy going baby, she'd go to anyone, sleep like an angel, be fine sitting by herself to play, etc. This is all so new to me!

I may be on my second time around, but reading Dr. Sears is still a need for me, apparently!

My Sweet Seven Month-er

Will is just over a week away from turning 8 months already! 

In the last few weeks, he's been doing lots of crazy things. He picks up on everything we do and mirrors it. These last few days I've had a cold. Every time I went to blow my nose, he would put him hand up to his mouth and nose and then make a blowing noise to mimic me. I couldn't figure out what he was doing for a while until I realized he always did it whenever I was blowing my nose. He cracks himself up with it too!

He is obsessed with belly farts. Or, as he now does them, anywhere on my skin farts. When he's on my hip, he'll attack my shoulder in slobber as he blows to make the little fart noise. If he's sitting in my lap, he'll lean over to do it on my thigh. Pretty much anywhere he can reach, he quick does it. Whenever he's successful at it, he lets out a little giggle. He's such a little boy! lol. 

He's starting to fully crawl now, instead of his army crawl that is super fast. He's been getting on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I have him do it on the sofa as he usually tries to make a move and falls on his face, but he's getting there!

His top teeth are poking through now. He has four big teeth before Katie even had one, I believe. He's a little teething monster. Thankfully he's learned to not bite while nursing.  I was so worried with him being so young (his first two popped out at 5 months) that he wouldn't understand to not bite, but he actually did figure it out just by me yelping and taking it away quickly. He didn't like me in pain (which is totally opposite of how Katie was, she'd giggle when I yelped!) so he stopped quickly. 

Speaking of nursing, it's so different this time. Which means I'm having different problems. Not that I can complain much. With Katie, I got stuck in a thrush cycle with her for months. I had bleeding, cracked, sore nipples that made me actually cry when she'd latch on. I had problems with clogged ducts about once a month. It was rough for months. With Will, I never had any problems nursing. No thrush, no bleeding or cracked nipples, no latch issues, no clogged ducts at all. My problem with Will is that he prefers one side. He'll nurse out of both, but greatly prefers my left. If I want to get him to sleep, it has to be on the left. If I want him to nurse to calm down, it has to be on the left. This has created a big size difference in my boobs! My left is at least a DD, my right is more like a C. I'm working to make him take the right side more and whenever I need breastmilk for his food, I use the right. It's not enough to fix it though. I'm probably going to have to start pumping during the little time he gives me during his nap if I want to make that side more even. I need to do something though, it looks crazy weird and it's all I see now!

Will is also now only wanting to sleep on his belly. Which I know is totally normal (though I'm not used to it - Katie still won't sleep on her belly!) but I dislike it, especially in bed. He nurses less at night now, and I'm introducing more solids into his diet, so I'm considering trying to move him into his crib. He loves to cuddle though, so I'm not sure if he'll go for it, but he's slowly been becoming more independent. There are definitely times of the night when he just rolls away from me and sleeps on his own anyway. He knows the difference between our mattress and the crib mattress though. If I can manage it, I'm definitely going to try to make it a thing. Especially because I'd love to move him out in the nursery with Katie once he turns a year old. I'm going to set up a toddler bed for him (a race car bed!) and put it next to Katie's.

Here's Mr. Adorable:

He says mama!

Will is 7 months old now and he's exploding with new things he can do. He now sits and chats with me, mostly with conversations that consists of "mama" and "hi". He recognizes words. If I ask him to nurse, he knows what to do. If I ask him where Katie is, he finds her. If I ask "where's mommy?" he'll find me. He's now able to associate words I say with who or what they belong with.

He's still not doing 'real' crawling, but this kid moves so fast. If I put him down at one end of the sofa, he can do a crazy amount of movement that gets him to the other end in about 20 seconds. He also loves to stand. He won't take a step yet, but he enjoys being tall!

I really enjoy watching his personality grow. I love coddling a tiny baby, but there's something magical when a baby starts to really know who you are, who they are, and starts to put it all together. It's one thing for a tiny baby to want mommy to nurse, it's another for an older baby to seek out your face and just light up in joy just to see you're there.

With that said, Will is miserable right now and ONLY wants his mommy at every moment - including those times when he's finally willing to nap or sleep. His two big top teeth are coming through now, and they're causing him a lot of grief. He's always gnawing angrily, or sometimes he quick sticks his hand in his mouth and screams. I can't wait for those teeth to be out! Of course, that means it'll be pain for me as he bites me (every time a new tooth comes in, he has to get a 'feel' for it and bites down while nursing) but that's better than hearing him cry in pain with his big crocodile tears.

Roughly, about 90% of the women on my facebook are now currently pregnant. I expected it would happen, as every year I'm not pregnant, everyone I know is. I seem to ALWAYS miss that tiny window where everyone is getting pregnant. I get pregnant when everyone I know has newborns! lol. But of course, all the pregnancy posts makes me think about what our future plans are. After all, we started TTC when Katie was only 7 months old, which Will is now.

However, I have no plans to be TTC any time soon, even though baby fever already flares now and then. I really enjoy just focusing on Katie and Will for a while longer. I'm hoping to keep my cycles away until at least next January, and would like to NTNP, or maybe TTC, starting around May. That would skip all the winter baby months and start me out in early spring due dates. Will would be around 17 months by then, which is just short of what Katie was when we got pregnant with Will. Hopefully by then we can have a better grip on our finances too so that it'll be easier to afford another one. Especially because I keep thinking that Katie is my Disney Princess, but Mattie will be my Juicy Couture Baby. I feel like throughout my pregnancy, I'm going to have to tuck some money away in case it's a girl so I could buy a few little Juicy things for her. It actually makes me hope a bit that the next one would be a boy, because my boy plans are much cheaper! lol

But anyway, I'm really enjoying the feeling of not being pregnant at the moment. If I could have another baby without the pregnancy, then I could probably manage handling that. But the pregnancy? I'm willing to hold off a while to not go through that again right now! Thinking of my pregnancies is the perfect damper to a baby fever. It puts that fire right out!

Here's Will at 7 months: