Swimming Lessons

Will is taking infant swim lessons. We started last monday and he goes everyday for 4-6 weeks roughly. These are the swim lessons that teach him how to float on his back in the unlikely event that he fell into water and no one was there. I say unlikely, because he will NEVER be by water unattended, but as any mother or father can say, "you blink and something can happen" and for that, we want to be prepared. The first couple of days were tough, he didn't like it at all and I was at any minute going to jump in and get him out. But day 3 he quit crying and seems to be doing okay. I'm still very anxious while I sit and watch these lessons, but we are around water way too much not to do this.



I shot this yesterday, it's about 2 minutes, but shows how he's doing. He hasn't quite gotten the concept to stop kicking and just float, so when you see her lift him up and down, she's trying to show him that she'll pick him up when he doesn't kick. It's amazing what these babies can learn. I'll post more progress in the coming weeks as we go thru this.

Will's Easter Pics

Sorry I didn't post a few more after I got his pictures from Becky, it's been a busy couple of weeks, I've been slacking on updates. Anyway, here's a couple more from his photo shoot, these are my favorites!

Playing with the Exersaucer

Will has been really trying to pull up the past couple of weeks. The day of his Easter pictures he pulled up at daycare and bruised his cheek on the toy box. Guess that's the first clue that we will have some interesting pictures of Will as he grows. Kids seem to always do something to themselves when mom wants them to look perfect. Anyway, he's getting better and better at pulling up. Sunday, Michael helped him up when he was trying to reach the toys on his exersaucer and he stood there for quite awhile before plopping back into dad's arms.

Will has a "pants strickly optional" moto at home! Of course that's beginning to change now that he's figured out how to remove his diaper. Makes for a fun diaper change, diaper on, diaper off, diaper on, diaper off; "sit still Will", diaper on, diaper off; "get back here", (my leg now over his chest), diaper on! Yes, we do this everyday! Glad he thinks it's funny!

Michael likes to argue that Will doesn't look like him. Not sure why he does this, he knows he's completely wrong, but regardless he argues. I'm determined to prove him wrong, it's my mission! This last picture really is a good example of what Michael would look like if he were almost 9 months old. Daddy expression and all!

Sitting Up

Milestones: seems like yesterday Will couldn't hold his head up and now he's maneuvering around, pulling up, crawling short distances, and just this week, learning to sit up on his own. He's also learning to stand up against the chair, holding his weight with little assistance, though his favorite thing right now is, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! (jumping up and down) Which makes for an interesting situation when he wants to hold on to something standing up on his own, then jump right into bouncy, bouncy, bouncy; not giving us any warning! Let's face it our little man is growing! I keep trying to capture some of this on the video camera, but every time it dings to record, Mr. Will stops what he's doing to stare at the camera. Boy, do I have a lot of the same video....blank stares!

I did capture the first time he sat from a laying position on camera, thought I'd share it.

This is how we play with our toys now, dump the basket and dive right in.

A little more and he's got it!

Almost...

Success!!!!

It's so exciting to watch him go thru all of this, thinking; "I never thought this day would come, he's actually doing it", but it does sadden me to know he's changing so much right before our eyes. Our little man is turning into a little boy and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to handle it; I know he can't stay baby forever, but as a new parent or 2nd or 3rd or 4th, etc. time parent, we should get a little more time with them thru this stage, but I guess no time is enough when it comes to kids. You just have to cherish the holy heck out of every second you get with them.

Spring Time

Being able to get outside and play is so nice! No matter what Will's mood is, if he's outside he's happy. Yesterday Michael and I took Will for an early evening cruise around the neighborhood in his wagon. He's big enough now to enjoy the wagon over the stroller, so off we went.

This was his first ride in the wagon and he made himself right at home. He had his foot up on the ledge the entire ride! He's such a man! Daycare says all he's needs is a Remote Control to complete the package!

We had a little difficulty w/ keeping the hat on his head. Will is amazed by hats, he loves taking them off and eating the brim. We'll work on teaching him the purpose of a hat later; but for now, it's funny!

But to keep his head from getting too much sun, we did turn it backwards which made it a little more difficult to get it off.

So we hope everyone is enjoying their time outside; Happy Spring!

Dad's Work Out

Who says once you have kids you never have time to work out? I think babies are so much more of a work out than just going to the gym. We have found some very interesting ways to work out while playing with Will. For instance;

Baby tossing! Great arm work out.

Baby Catching! Again great for arms and maybe the stomach.

Face stomping....okay, that's just funny, no real work out!

And as always laughing burns so many calories! But seriously, we do stomach crunches while holding Will on our legs, which is excellent for our abs and makes Will laugh. My arms have never looked better and I chalk it up to the awkward ways I hold Will while he's exploring what's around us. And I'm sure that in just a few short months we'll be running all over the place trying to keep up w/ our little guy. So, no maybe there is no time to get the gym, but what better way to work out than to make your little one laugh!

Messy, Messy Eater

I think the older Will gets the messier he gets. DUH, ANGELA!!!! He likes to clap while he eats. He's quite the clapper, as stated before we clap for everything. For instance here lately, when mom gets into some pants she hasn't previously gotten in; my little clapper is right there to cheer me on. AND when I try the pair on that still won't quite close; still my biggest fan claps for me.

Anyway, back to this messy eating. When Will first started eating, it wasn't bad, I thought, he's not going to be one of those kids that needs drop cloth under him. YEAH, I was wrong! He likes to spit and slap the food on the platter that's fallen off the spoon during a clap session. I find food on the shutters and there is no way a shirt will survive even with a bib on.

But he gets the biggest kick out of it; and he loves to eat. So maybe we won't get passed the messy eating stage and that 9 x 12 painters tarp is going to be used for a food catcher rather than a painting drop cloth; but we have a fun time and laugh a lot so that's good with me.

And after the food is everywhere, he likes to suck his thumb while we finish TRYING to get food in his mouth. We are REALLY looking forward to Will feeding himself. May not be a bad idea to just remove the dining table, leave that ugly wallpaper up and put his highchair in the middle of the painter tarp until he gets the hang of it. OR we can always put him on the porch, it is starting to warm up.....

Happy Easter

Our first Easter! What a fun, crummy weather kind of day. Going into Easter I asked Michael "what do we get an 8 month old for Easter?" To that question we decided, a basket w/ plastic eggs would work this year, Will has no idea what's going on. As always with babies, it's more for the parents entertainment than the kids. So, that's what we did, basic, simple! Grammy got him the Car Easter basket from PBK and I got him some $.99 eggs. Cheapest Easter ever!

THEN we got over to Nana and Grandpa Mike's. And there awaited Will a adorable choo choo train basket full of eggs, nerf balls, money, a few other cute things and a HUGE bottle of bubbles. Will loved the soccer ball, great teether!

Baby Grace tried so hard to wait for Nana to get home from church to open her basket, but she didn't quite make it.

Grace did wake up after a few minutes to see her stuff. Here in about 6 months those bubbles will be so much fun for her!

Just before this picture, Will was cuddling up to Nana and Grace asleep in the other arm. I wanted to get a picture, they looked so cute, but silly mom walked right next to Will to get the camera and Will started whining. Still had to take a picture, but it was so much more precious before the whining started!

Michael took this picture of Will, he still won't go forward, but he has the backward crawl down.

Then off to Grammy and Grandpa's and ANOTHER precious Easter basket awaited Will there. A basket filled w/ Camo eggs, spoons and tons of toys. 3 Easter baskets in 1 day. What the heck, I NEVER got 3 or even 2 Easter baskets in the same year! Spoiled little toot!

I'm assuming this will be a re-occuring event now with Grammy, Grandpa, Nana and Grandpa Mike getting Will an Easter basket each year, so I put the baskets up for next year and will get them out for the grandparents to fill and Michael and I won't be so weak next year on our grand plan to keep it simple! Though next year will be a blast, we can actually hunt the eggs!

Little Glimpse....

Will got his pictures taken yesterday. Our friend Becky, also know as GreyGill Fish on Will's blog friends, took his pictures for Easter. She sent me a couple to check out before she sends me the whole file so thought I'd share!

He's got such personality in his smile, you can't help but smile when you look at his face! *And I don't think that's just a gushing mom speaking!

I'll post a couple more when I get them next week.

Long Post!

Saturday was such a beautiful day; mom and I went over to Grammy and Grandpa's to make some cookies and while we were there I got to play w/ mine and Grandpa's toys. Now, we are going to play a little game; you try to figure out which toys are mine and which toys are Grandpa's and I'll tell you if you were right at the end!

Here I am going for a cruise in my pedal car! I've figured out how to stand and drive at the same time, like the flinstone's!

Had to adjust the window on my drive!

Then after my pedal car ride; Grandpa and I went for a short cruise. It's my first drive in the corvette; and I'm pretty relaxed you can see. We only went up the driveway and back down, but I think I drove it pretty well; you know for being 8 months old. Yeah, you read that right, I'm 8 months old now!!!

See, standing and driving again, it's my new thing.

I think I'm freaking Grandpa out alittle bit here, but I've got my hands on the wheels, so what if I'm not paying attention to where we are going! Wonder if he thinks we are going to hit the house????

After a cruise in the vette and the pedal car, I decide I need to take the T-Rex out for a spin!

Come on, get this thing in gear, let's MOVE!

I drive this thing pretty well too! Now can you guess which of these toys are mine??? Yup, you guessed it; they are all mine! At least that's what I'm telling myself!

Then after all my driving, Aunt Wendy, Uncle Corry and Baby Grace came over. I slept for part of their visit; I was pretty warn out with all that driving.

But then I woke up and Aunt Wendy gave me some love. She's been recovering from Baby Grace's birth, so this was the first time she's gotten to hold me in a few months. She gave me lots of kisses.

Then Uncle Corry got me and I wore his hat for alittle while. After our visit, mom and I went home to see daddy. It was a pretty busy saturday morning.

Playing with Mom and Dad

Will really enjoys this new chair; he hasn't quite figured out how to get out of it gracefully, but he's definitely giving us a few laughs when he tries.

I posted previously that Will now tries to grab the camera when I'm taking his picture; well now it's getting worse! (Our good friend Becky is going to have so much fun taking Will's Easter pictures next week)

He's got a good hold of the strap here!

And after he realized he wasn't successful getting it that way, he fell out of his chair to try another route.

Now getting frustrated he gives it one last try.....No Success!

Now off to something else! Look at this face! What else can I say???

Then dad came into the room and while looking up Will gave me a good shot of his new tooth!

Will loves to cross his legs when he sits; like a little man!

And finally; Dad was making him laugh so hard, he could barely contain himself!

And that was our fun night!!!!