Murtle Love

 

Hi There!

Can you believe how big William is getting?  I can't.  They really do grow way too fast!  He's so long and lean, though his legs are getting a little chunkier lately.  I think it's probably from the formula and rice cereal.  William is now getting two formula bottles during the day and I nurse for the other three feedings.  He gets rice cereal after his morning and evening feedings and I think he's got the hang of it.  I'll probably start introducing vegetables and fruits once he makes five months.  I really don't want to rush anything, I'm prolonging his babyness as long as possible!  He is also sleeping about 8 hours at night, which is pretty nice. We put him to bed around 8:30 and he sleeps until 4:30ish when I feed him then he's back down again until 7:00 or 8:00. 

He also has discovered his toes in the past few weeks.  I think it's so funny to watch him put them in his mouth!  It has made diaper changing more difficult because he loves to grab on his feet so much.  Now we are working on teaching him to sit.  He'll support himself for a few seconds before he starts to lean, but I think he'll get the hang of it pretty soon.     

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to this guy.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Patrick: 

 

He is a goober, a kid at heart.   

 He is 100% an engineer.  He made this template, to scale, for William's room so he wouldn't have to rearrange the furniture once it was in the room. 

 

He plays the guitar for William and Murtle in the evenings.

He surprises me.  For example, he treated us to a second honeymoon last summer at Caneel Bay, St. John.  When I first mentioned the idea I never thought he'd go for it.  I've learned never to underestimate him. 

He is a great dad.  He changes William's diapers, bathes him and Murtle, holds William while he gets his shots, I could go on about all the things he does for him.  I also love that he occasionally thanks me for being a good mother to William.

Thanks, Patrick, for all you do!  Happy Birthday!

First Feeding

Trying out our highchair for the first time.

The first bite.

What is in my mouth?

 Not too sure about this!

4 Months = Big Changes

Our baby is four months old! Time really does fly. We had his four month checkup today and everything looks great. William weighs 14 lbs, 6 oz (50th percentile) and he is 26 1/4 inches long (90th percentile). We thought he looked long! He's been outgrowing all his clothes because of his length. Dr. Kelleher thought his head and neck looked much better, so all our neck massages and exercises are working.

So now for the big changes...

William's letter from the St. Aloysius Child Care Center arrived last week. His first day at the center will be August 2, and I am already a basket case. It started last week when Patrick mentioned that William would be starting school in about 3 weeks, I really hadn't thought about it until I heard him say that. I AM NOT READY!  I know that I have to go back to work and being around the other people and children will be so good for William, but that isn't making the separation any easier on me. I've been with the little guy practically 24/7 for the past four months. Going from that to being with him from 4-bedtime and on the weekends will be an adjustment to say the least.

In order to get him ready for the center, we are starting to wean him from nursing and on to formula starting tomorrow. I'd like to keep nursing him at least once/twice a day until six months if that's possible. Dr. Kelleher also gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal and then first step foods. Looks like we're pulling out the highchair, bowls, spoons, and bibs!

Please keep our little family in your prayers as we tackle these new adventures!

Vacation

We have finally returned home from a wonderful beach vacation.  I absolutely love the beach, it is my favorite place in the world!  We hadn't planned a vacation this summer, so we were very excited when Grandy and Pops decided to go to the Aegean in Destin.  The weather was great except for one rainy day and the water was beautiful and tar ball free.

William enjoyed playing with his beach toys.  He was a real trooper the whole time, reminding me again how lucky we are to have such a good baby.  He would camp out under the umbrella on the beach and take long naps.

By the end of the week he had had enough of the beach so we tried out the pool.  It took a few minutes for him to get used to it, but then he seemed really comfortable in the water. 

We had a really great time and hope we get to return again next year with the whole family.  Now we are happy to be home with our Murtle!