Christmas Recap

What a fun Christmas!  Where do I begin? 

William's surgery on Wednesday went fine and he was never too cranky or fussy from it.  He did not care for the Tylenol with Codeine so the worst part was trying to get him to take it.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that the tubes will make a significant difference with William's health!  Thanks so much to all of you who called/emailed/texted to check on him, it really meant so much to me.

Thursday evening we opened Santa presents in Baton Rouge then headed to Thibodaux to have Christmas with the Ledet family.  We opened gifts Christmas Eve morning.  I loved all William's new toys, but he was much more interested in Grandy's ornaments and spices.

Christmas morning after breakfast we were on the road again, this time going to Rayne.  We made it there in time for lunch, then more present opening.  John Daniel got a German Shepherd puppy for Christmas, and he and Murtle aren't friends yet.  Poor Murtle, she's probably thinking her world has turned upside down, first a baby, now a puppy!  John Daniel also got an XBox Kinect so it was funny watching him and Patrick play.

Now we are finally back at home and getting to enjoy all our new toys.  I am so glad I have a job that gives me 2 more weeks off!  

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Surgery

The time has come.  After battling constant ear infections since October, William is scheduled for tubes and adenoid removal tomorrow morning.  I have been to the pediatrician almost every 2 weeks since October and we've tried numerous antibiotics and antihistamines/decongestants and nothing has worked.  So last Monday the pediatrician sent us to the ENT (with a ruptured eardrum and ears that made the ENT hurt to look at) and we scheduled the surgery.  Then after a nasty cough developed I didn't know if he would actually be cleared for surgery.  Patrick had to take William back to the doctor last Friday, and he was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis and possibly a touch of pneumonia.  So we started another antibiotic and breathing treatments.  William has been such a good baby through all this, he really doesn't act sick at all.  Thankfully, he has gotten much better and the surgery is a go.  Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow!  From what I hear, coming out of the anesthesia is the worst part.

My mom is coming in town to help take care of William post surgery because I have some last minute Christmas shopping to take care of, crazy right?! 

Santastic

Guess who William met today?

Santa Claus!  It was a very drama free experience, no tears or anything.  William took a minute just checking Santa out, made sure he could see us and he did fine.  We couldn't get a big smile out of him, but I think he still looks precious.  I have grand plans to make this a Christmas tradition (as long as William will tolerate it).  I think it'll be so neat to have all these pictures to document William at each Christmas. 

P.S. Grandparents, you may just get a copy of this in your Christmas stockings!

Total Blog Slacker

I have to agree, that's what I've been lately.  We've been busy, and tired!  Here's some randomness:

Meredith, Lillian, JJ and I after the Tennessee game.  I feel comfortable saying LSU did not pay him or his dad $180,000 to play for us.  We've had some rough times this year, but I'm 100% a Tiger fan. 

Rebecca, Kate, Jaclyn, me and Lillian before the Bama game, I think.  I love football season, but I'm kinda glad to have a break for awhile.  It's nice to be able to relax on Saturdays and not have to rush to campus.  However, I'm sure I'll be counting down the days to the madness come next August.  

Grandpa, Murtle, William, and Ms. Rea on Thanksgiving.  This is my mom's dad and stepmom.  I'm so glad I got this picture of William with his great grandparents, and I hope to get many more.  I have so much to be thankful for! 

William is still battling ear infections.  His right ear just won't clear up, as of Monday there was fluid, but no infection yet so we are trying an antihistamine/decongestant for a few weeks.  If that works, great!  If not we'll most likely be sent to an ENT to talk about tubes.  Poor baby has pretty much had an ear infection since October.  It's been very frustrating.  Despite the ear infections, he's started adding new sounds to his repertoire, now he says "mamamamama, dadadada, nananana, and babababa".  It's so fun to listen to him.

The Christmas tree has been decorated, stockings have been hung, and Christmas cards are in the mail.  Merry Christmas!

Quality Time

This weekend I got to spend some quality time with William, and I have loved every second of it.  No parties or football games to rush off to, nothing that had to be done (with the exception of a Junior League thing this morning, so it was almost perfect).  Patrick went back to Mississippi for the weekend so it was just the two of us. 
Saturday morning we stayed in bed until 7:30 then had breakfast and played.  After a Target adventure we had a Christmas card picture photo shoot.  Here are some of the outtakes:

This is William's new "say cheese" face.  He smiles so hard he scrunches up his whole face!

 Mama, I need a bottle before we take any more of these.

 The face again.  I love it.  Look at his teeth!  I keep waiting for more to pop out.

 This is one of my favorites, but it didn't make the cut.

Sitting like a big boy.

I bought him this outfit months ago thinking he could wear it for Christmas, since it's a size 12 month.  I'm not sure if it will still fit by then, so I'm glad I made him wear it for pictures.  He's outgrowing everything!
He has really started babbling lately, it's constant "dadadadada" and the occasional "gagaga" or "ma".  It makes me so happy to listen to him.  He's also crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything.  I was told that at daycare he'll crawl over the other babies and just lay there on top of them playing with the toys.  He also likes to pull off the other babies' socks and chew on them, which is kinda gross.
One more week until Thanksgiving Break...YAY!!!!!

Happy Halloween

We took William to Mississippi this weekend for his first trip to the hunting camp. I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and held many photo shoots.

William had his first four wheeler ride. He looks so serious.

Then he wanted to drive it himself.

He also climbed into his first deer stand. He is enamored with his Pops. I think he could just stare at him for hours.

 

I got some great pictures of William and Murtle.

Then William decided he was finished taking pictures.

 We got home this afternoon and put him in his clown costume.  It was a long weekend for the little guy, so most of our pictures were of a sad clown.  Murtle even dressed up as a LSU football player.

You can't really tell from the pictures, but William is now pulling himself up onto everything and his army crawl is turning into a true crawl.  We had to lower his bed last weekend.  He is growing so fast!

First School Picture

Look at William's first school picture!  I scanned it onto the computer, so excuse the poor quality and cropping.  I wish he was smiling, but I'm thinking he may have been overwhelmed by the whole process (I know the daycare staff was very happy when picture day was over).  He looks like he was looking at the photographer like, "Who are you?"  Normally whenever he sees me with my camera he is all smiles.  I still think the picture is cute and I will definitely be bringing one to work with me tomorrow for my office.  I have his birth announcement that I sent to the school in there now, and several students have asked what my baby looks like, so it'll be nice to have a more current picture.

William finally made it back to daycare Monday.  It was a bit of an adjustment after being home with me for almost a week, but he has finally gotten back into the swing of things.  I also think we've gotten used to the new food first, then bottle feeding schedule and it's working out pretty well.  Some days it actually gives me more time in the mornings which is fantastic.       

On to other non-William topics...I read lots of blogs, some are people I personally know, but there are lots that I've stumbled upon and I am now addicted to.  I'm realizing that the majority of these bloggers are Auburn fans and there is a big game this weekend that has been mentioned on most of them.  So far nobody has said anything mean about my Tigers or I may have to quit reading!   But I am hoping that come Monday they may be blogging about Auburn's disappointing loss to LSU!  Geaux Tigers!

Gotta Get Through This

The chorus of this song has been in my head all day.  I think it's my battle cry.  Let me catch you up on how this happened.  

We took William for his 6 month pictures this weekend, and of course they were outside and will be beautiful.  However, I think William has allergies like his dad and he started acting funny Saturday evening/Sunday.  He who normally devours every drop of his bottle started leaving about an ounce.  He was a little fussy Sunday, and Monday they said he wasn't acting like himself at daycare.  I noticed that he was a little off, too, plus he started coughing.  Same situation on Tuesday, not really himself and he had two bad diapers at daycare, if there had been a third I would have had to go get him.  Tuesday night I debated making a doctor appointment for Wednesday morning, but I looked in my baby resource books and all symptoms could be from teething, so I decided to pray about it and wait and see.  Well, he lasted about an hour at daycare Wednesday morning before having two back to back bad diapers and I had to go get him.  We went directly to the pediatrician, and guess what?  One ear is infected and the other is heading in that direction.  We've started antibiotics.          

Wednesday afternoon was okay.  There were a few more bad diapers.  We went through 5 outfits.  William and Murtle really enjoyed their extra time together.  I had to go volunteer at Hollydays, so Patrick had evening duty, and unfortunately that's when William decided to be the fussiest.

Today started out with a bad diaper, then a starving, screaming baby.  After a bottle and food, he seemed to return to his normal happy self.  Then came lunch time.  We've been giving William a bottle before food, and he's not eating that great because he's getting full from the bottle.  So the pediatrician said to start giving food first, ha!  I tried it yesterday for lunch and it was fairly successful, however Patrick had no such luck last night at dinner and today's lunch was awful!  I offerered squash first, which resulted in the biggest tears in the world.  Then we tried apples, which he liked, but we only had a little left so then I tried an apple cinnamon oatmeal mixture leftover from breakfast...more enormous heart-breaking tears.  So I said okay, lets try a bottle.  William took a few ounces then started coughing and vomiting.  So we stripped down in the kitchen to our diaper.  And that's when the song started playing in my head. 

He doesn't look too miserable does he?  I'm not a fan of babies wearing only diapers, but this is one of very few times when I didn't care.   I waited about an hour or so, then offered William a few more ounces from a bottle.  Not smart.  More vomiting.  This time we ended up in the bathtub. 

He seems to be doing okay now.  I hate hearing him cough, though.  Now I'm watching for signs of dehydration and praying that doesn't happen. 

On a postive note,  I have loved spending these days at home with Doodle (William's current nickname, short for Doodlebug).  He's still army crawling all over the place and also has started turning in circles on his hands and knees.    He pushed himself into a sitting position several times yesterday, and today he's doing the downward facing dog pose.  You may think we're crazy, but Patrick and I can't wait for him to start crawling. 

P.S.  If for some reason the hyperlink won't work, this is the song I'm referring to: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4eMyOzD9UI

It's Been Awhile

I feel like it has been awhile since I've written about William's lastest antics.  He is growing like a little weed, they call him "long boy" at daycare.  He is wearing 9-12 month clothes now!  He has been "army crawling" around for a few weeks now.  He'll pull up onto all fours and is trying to move his arms and legs to crawl.  I think he's going to figure it out pretty soon!  

I ordered him a stacking toy the other day, and Patrick thought it would be funny to stack them on William's head.  He loved it!

 

William still loves all things technology:  cell phones, remotes, my camera, anything that lights up and plays music.  The minute he sees me take out my camera and he hears it click he's smiling, laughing, and doing whatever he can to try to grab it.    Speaking of grabbing, he is grabbing at EVERYTHING!  He was almost stuck under his bed today because he was trying to grab his play mat that was stored under there.  The more mobile he gets, the more of a handful he is and all I can do is laugh!  He's just too much for words!

 

Quote of the Day

Today, one of my students told me, "I thought you were in your twenties, until I saw your gray hair."

Me, "So how old do you think I am now?"

Him, "Thirties, Forties?"

I guess it's time I make my hair coloring appointment!  I did tell the students that its their behavior that stresses me out and causes the gray hair, but that didn't seem to make a difference!

Smiles

I feel so lucky to have such a happy baby.  He's all smiles and giggles most of the time, even while he's cutting teeth!  His two bottom teeth are so close to being out, I check his little gums every day.

I read rave reviews about Sophie the Giraffe, the teething toy William is holding in the above picture.  I was hoping he would love it, but I think Murtle loves it more.  I've had to rescue Sophie multiple times already.

William does still love his exersaucer.  It was definitely a great purchase.  He also really likes his walker too.  Both have made it somewhat easier for me to attempt to cook dinner before Patrick gets home from work and to get some other things done around the house.  I'd love to find someone to come clean my house on a regular basis, but if you know my husband then you know how he feels about that!

6 Months

William had his six month check up today.  He weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz (50th Percentile) and is 27 3/4 inches long (90th Percentile).  Besides his lingering cough everything looks great.  The pediatrician said it looks like two teeth are getting ready to cut through the skin. 

We are having so much fun with him.  He loves his walker and has really figured out how to use it, it's so funny to watch.  He likes to sing "Pat A Cake" and listen to the crazy songs I make up to entertain him at dinner time. He is sitting up and rolling around and moving in circles.  Yesterday he scooted himself backwards to where his entire body was under the twin bed in his room and all that was poking out was his head!  Then today when he was sitting on my lap on the floor he kept standing up! I'm thinking we'll need to babyproof everything soon!

  

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend I...
 

Wore my gameday polo and watched my first Tiger victory

Enjoyed my new swing from Grandy and Pops

Had my first sink bath at the camp

 

Tried out my new walker, thanks Grandpa and Ms. Rea

I love it!

Our Friend Gabe

We spent last weekend in Thibodaux. Saturday morning we had a visit with Ms. Debbie, Ms. Fay, and Gabe. Gabe turns one in September and has a baby sister coming in October.  I think he's going to be a great big brother. It was so funny watching the two boys interact. 

Gabe tried to eat William's ear. I really think he was trying to give him a kiss, but this looks hilarious.

He succeeded with a kiss.

Look at those eyes! I think William was ready to have his toy back.

We went to the doctor Wednesday and William's ears are much better.  I'm hoping they stay fluid free for a very long time.  I don't want to see the doctor again until our 6 month check up which is only a few weeks away...time does fly. 

We started giving William baby food last week.  So far he has had carrots, peas, and pears.  I thought peas were his favorite because when he first had them he gobbled them up.  We had peas again tonight and he almost gagged with every bite, so now I think they are the least favorite.  We are trying a new food every third day and once we've tried a variety I'll start sending some to daycare.  According to the nurse at the doctor, William has gained almost 2 pounds since he started the foods!

And I almost forgot...William is a sitter!  I think he has finally mastered sitting on his own, such a big step.  He can hold toys and laugh at Murtle while sitting and not fall down.  Patrick and I are such proud parents!

Sitting and Reading

Sorry for the lack of posts. Life is busy. William loves all things technology: tvs, telephones, computers, etc. which means I can only sit down and blog if he's sleeping. He also loves paper. Everytime he goes crazy over paper I think of how Patrick's family calls him goat (because of how his cry sounded as a baby) and one of his younger cousins calls William "kid", get it? So I associate the playing with and chewing on the paper with goats and get tickled. Here is William "reading" the sale papers and sitting up like a big boy.

I'll be back soon with some pictures from this weekend. I have some cute ones of William and his first playdate in Thibodaux.

Sick Day

It has happened. Today we had our first sick baby doctor visit. Last week William started with a runny nose, and I noticed him pulling on his ears occasionally. Both of those symptoms can be attributed to teething, so I didn't worry too much. Over the weekend he developed a cough and more congestion. When I picked him up from daycare yesterday I thought he felt warm + I noticed he wasn't really responding to sounds like normal + he was exceptionally quiet. So we took his temperature last night and he did have a slight fever. He hasn't had fever since then, but the pediatrician checked his ear and informed me that they are both infected. Yuck! He's starting an antibiotic + cough/cold medicine and hopefully it'll clear everything up quickly. I'm praying that this is a one time thing and not the start of frequent ear infections.

On a more cheerful note, here are some pictures from Sunday.

Hanging upside down on the Boppy.

Playing with my Murtle.

Murtle is so patient with William. She lets him pull on her for awhile before she gets too bothered. Now when she brings her toys to William he'll grab them so they can play tug!

Adjusting

Well, we survived our introduction to Daycare last week. William did well, I think. He isn't as independent as he is at home, but I think once he is comfortable with his caregivers he'll do fine. He has started taking better naps while he's there and is on a good feeding schedule. It is still difficult for me to handle the daycare situation, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that no place is perfect, and as Patrick said no one will take care of him like I do. Hopefully we have him somewhere that will at least come close.

Now that I'm back at work I'm realizing how valuable every second is. If William is awake, I want to squeeze in all the loving that I missed during the day.  I feel guilty watching tv or playing on the computer. 

And there is not enough time in the day! I'm trying to get everything ready the night before to make our mornings go as smoothly as possible. Everything is going okay so far, but William hasn't been too into his cereal in the mornings, so we're giving him extra at night. He is five months old today, and I think we'll celebrate by introducing a vegetable with his evening cereal over the weekend.

These pictures are from this weekend.  We went to Rayne for a wedding and to visit my parents.  In the picture above William is trying out a hobby horse (I think that's what it's called) that my parents have.  I've been looking at some other versions that he may ask Santa to bring.

Here William helped me fold his clothes by grabbing the stack of bibs and shoving them in his face.  His new favorite thing is to rub anything soft hard against his face, like he wants to eat it.  Maybe that's the teething?

He is also still super into his feet, which is cute except for when he is pulling his feet into his mouth as I'm trying to feed him cereal!

D-Day

Today was D-Day. Daycare day. First, let me say William had a great night last night. He slept from 8:30-7:30! It may not happen again for a long time, but last night it was great! I had to wake him up this morning at 7:30 to get the day started and get him to St. Aloysius. I dropped him off around 8:30, and he did fine. I was a basket case as I was leaving the center, but thankfully the women who will be taking care of my baby are wonderful and took the time to take care of me this morning. They already have a special place in my heart.

I let him stay there until 2:30. I figured 6 hours was long enough, and I was concerned about having packed enough bottles. When I went to get him a few of the other first day parents were picking up their babies, so I didn't feel bad. According to his "report card", William didn't nap as well as he does at home, but he was his usual happy baby self with the exception of diaper changing time.

Now we are back home, relaxing. I think Murtle really missed William today. She hung out with him much longer than she normally does when we got home, it was very sweet.

On to other topics, the teething has started. Today especially, the drooling is out of control. William is not really cranky, but he's starting to chew on everything. Every time I hold him he is trying to grab and eat my face! The pediatrician thought she saw the slits for his bottom teeth at his appointment weeks ago, so maybe we'll have teeth soon.

 

Murtle Love