Love this kid!

Will is 7 months now! It's still amazing to us how much we are smitten by him! He is seriously just the cutest, sweetest, happiest kid ever! We love him so much!

He's growing up so fast and getting so big. He's doing new things every day! We are really enjoying this stage!

He can hold his own bottle and sippy cup, is starting to really get around- mostly by rolling but can army crawl a little bit, loves his medicine, loves to eat (but pays for it later most of the time), loves to go for walks and be outside, is getting better at actually getting the puffs in his mouth, is an early riser (much to my dismay!), loves playing on the floor with his toys, loves his binks, has the most amazing dark brown eyes, loves his big sister (most of the time), is really good at sitting on his own, loves to click his tongue, and loves to eat books!

He is such a good little boy! Love you buddy!

Ogden Marathon

A couple weekends ago, Clay ran the Ogden Marathon. The kids and I went up with Gaga and Grandpa Rex to cheer for him at the finish.

Watching for Daddy!

The home stretch!


Clay and Matt

Addie and Rachel

I'm so proud of Clay for doing these marathons. It's amazing to me that someone would have any desire to do it! It wasn't his best time but he still did a great job finishing in 4:09! We love you!

Mother's Day

It was a great Mother's Day. I have such a sweet husband who is always so kind and thoughtful to me. This year was no different!

Saturday, he came home with my present (well, it's also for Father's Day & my birthday too). A new digital SLR, Nikon D40. It's awesome. I love it. It's going to be strange to get used to carrying around a bigger camera! Now I just need to learn how to use the manual modes!

We had a nice, quiet morning at home, went to church and watched Addie attempt to sing with the Primary kids (more like stand there and twirl her hair), then spent the rest of the evening with our families. Couldn't ask for more! I love my kids and my family! Being a mom is hard and challenging but it's so rewarding!

Here are a few pictures I have taken with the new camera!

Hopefully the pictures will just keep getting better and better! How lucky am I!?!

All Gone!!!! Finally!!!!

Addie is finally done with the binkie! It needed to happen a long time ago but I think I was procrastinating it as much for me as I was for her. I finally decided we just needed to go for it but since she was older, I wanted her to feel like it was her decision.

Here's how we did it...
A few weeks ago, I had her throw away all but three of them. She got to pick which three she wanted to keep and she had no problem throwing the rest away knowing she still had three others.

One day, I took her to the gas station and let her pick out three packs of gum (she loves gum but hates that I only let her have a half of a piece. She always tells me that she's big to have a big piece!) She was thrilled to have three packs of gum that were all hers. In order for her to open the pack of gum, she had to throw away a binkie.

As soon as we got home that day, the first binkie went straight to the garbage. She enjoyed her pink Trident bubble gum and getting to chew whole pieces. Sometime during the next few days, we lost her second binkie somewhere (still haven't found it)! So, we were down to just one.

I decided since we couldn't find the other binkie, that she could have her 2nd pack of gum with the knowledge that if we did ever find it, it was going straight to the garbage. She decided she wanted the other pack of gum and since I knew she really wanted it, I told her she couldn't have it till she threw away her last binkie (I didn't think she'd actually do it right then)!

She immediately went upstairs, brought it down and threw it away despite my attempts to make sure she really knew what she was doing. She gave it one last suck then spit it into the garbage can and was thrilled to get her gum.

I was pretty nervous about how she'd do. We were gone for awhile that day and got home at naptime. She was already tired and so got really upset when she wanted her binkie and I told her it was all gone. She actually looked scared. It was pretty sad.

Luckily, she did fall asleep quickly and took a nap. Bedtime that night went great as well. She's asked for it a few times and there have been a few tears for them but she's doing amazingly well. I'm so proud of her! Way to go Addie!

He's growing up!

I can't believe Will is already six months old! We're half way to one! It's amazing how quickly time goes by...there are days I feel like we just brought him home!

He continues to be a joy in our home. He is just such a sweet, happy and content little guy. He is always smiling and is so loving. I am constantly amazed at how in love I am with him and how exciting it is to see him experience new things.

Some of my favorite things about Will right now:

He's learned the sound Wah, so he just sits there and yells, wah, wah, wah over and over.
He has the cutest little face and smile
His eyelashes are so long and curly- any girl would kill for them!
He loves to play with and chew on his binkie
He thinks his exersaucer is a jumperoo
Loves Mickey Mouse and gets so excited when he comes on the TV!
He is very ticklish and gives us big belly laughs when we tickle him
He loves to bang things and make lots of noise
Is really good at putting his binkie in his mouth (and thinks it's funny when it's upside down)

He loves to reach out and grab at stuff- you have to watch out for anything within his grasp
He greets us with such a big smile every time he sees us. It melts my heart.
He loves to hear his voice!
His pouty/cry face is actually pretty cute
He thinks the world of his big sister

He's starting to look like a little boy!

Warning- the rest is a bit wordy-because it's my journal too!

At six months, Will is 14 lbs. 14 oz. putting him in the 7th percentile for his weight! It's amazing he's so skinny because he eats a ton! He was 27" long (66th %). I really thought he was going to be my chunky baby because he is such an eater! He's continuing to turn out just like his sister- long and lean (although, she was never that lean)! His head circumference is in the 20th percentile.

REFLUX & EATING
His reflux has remained pretty stable with some flare-ups here and there. It's still around but not as bad as it once was. We're hoping he outgrows it soon! He is still on the hypoallergenic, expensive formula but we've been given the go ahead to challenge it and try him on a regular formula. He loves to eat. He gets upset when he has to sit and watch us eat without him.

He is still going about 3 hours between bottles during the day but has upped his intake to about 5 oz. each bottle. He continues to love solids but they don't always love him back. We've done well with the oatmeal, bananas and avocados but the sweet potatoes made him spit up more and we tried peas the other day and they gave him a diaper rash and made his reflux flare up. We're taking a break from starting new things for a little while! He likes the puffs (it's hilarious watching him try to pick them up) and chewing on the zwieback toasts.

SLEEP
Sleep was going pretty well for awhile. He's got a cold right now that has kind of messed things up but hopefully we can get back to where we were or even better! He was going to bed around 6ish and getting up once for a bottle around 4 or 5, then back to bed till around 6 or 7.

He is now free of the straight jacket swaddle because I found him on his tummy all wrapped one day after a nap. We had to cold turkey it and we weren't sure how he'd do. The first night was the hardest- but once he fell asleep, he slept just as he would without the swaddle so it wasn't bad. Since being swaddle free, he's starting to roll and move around a lot more- both in bed and when he's playing on the floor.

Naps are still hit and miss- usually around 45 min- but will sometimes sleep for an hour and a half. Thus, the early bedtime. He's just begging for his bed by about 6:00. He does nap pretty well in his carseat though- so I'm glad for that since he usually has 2-3 days a week where he has to have at least one nap in the carseat due to Addie's activities.

DEVELOPING
I've been a little concerned about the shape of his head over the last few months. It seemed to be growing wider and staying short, and then getting pretty flat on the back. He spent a good majority of his first 4 months on his back because that was the position he loved the most. After consulting with his Dr., we've spent as much time as possible the last two months trying to keep him off his back to keep the pressure off it. This is a lot of work- especially when he doesn't like being on his tummy or sitting up because it puts pressure on his tummy and makes him spit up! We are happy to hear his Dr. is not concerned and we feel like it's starting to look a little more rounded in back!

He is getting really good at sitting by himself and he loves it. I still put the boppy or pillows around him if I'm not right there because he will topple over eventually.

He is getting much more proficient at rolling both ways- if I set him down on his tummy, it's only a matter of seconds before he rolls over to his back. He does it in a very complicated way! He rolls OVER his arm- and it looks very uncomfortable!

He loves to scoot around on his back and is getting much more mobile that way. Now, when he's laying on his back, he does little "crunches" to see what's going on around him! He's got some strong ab muscles!

He is still pretty content just hanging out on our laps a lot of the time though- so we are loving that (since Addie never did that). He is definitely attached to mommy and daddy. We are already having some separation anxiety issues - even with family! He just loves his mom and dad! We love him too!

Happy Six Months Will!

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