The Best Day of His Life

Pictures from the past month:

Pictures from October 25:

At 14 weeks old, I think William had the best day of his life today - literally! He was SO happy to be with his family and friends! All in one day, 'Uncle' Adam came to visit, we went to see Mimi and Papa, and Auntie Annie came over and brought him a new hat.

Mimi played patty cake and got the little man laughing - which melted all of our hearts! And he seems to like his new hat too!

In addition to a good day, we have had as exciting past month. William got to meet 'Aunt' Mel and Miss Kim, hang out with his buddy John Marshall, be 'shown off', meet his Uncle Cams, and wear blue jeans for the first time. Enjoy the photo collage of our fun memories!

This week was Mom's first full week back at work, and William's first week at school. More on this to come!

WORLD Wide Web

Thanks to all of you friends and family who read this blog! I recently made the blog private because of a little incident with 'Google Alerts' - not because I don't want any of you to read!

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You tell Google Alerts which topic you are interested in, and you provide your email address. Google searches the web, and each it finds the topic you listed, it sends a notification to your inbox. I have one set up for my company name (and so do most of the 1,800 employees) so that I can learn when and how my company is 'in the news.' And... a couple of weeks ago, a Google Alert for my company's name picked up MY blog (because I have the company name listed in my profile.) This means that MANY of the employees got an email with a link to my blog!

I am such a private person (blogging for friends and family is a big step for me anyways) and I was SO embarassed! Alhtough I love my company and my colleagues, I didn't intent this blog to be a company-wide event. Thus, taking the blog private is my attempt to keep some sense of privacy - a rare commodity in this informtion age!

But I love that you are here, and I love your comments! Read on.... and if you know of someone who read the blog but who has not gotten the invite, just let me know (preferrably, send me their email address) so that I can add them to the list!

And certainly, thanks so much to my sweet friend who provided the tip on how to make this blog private - you know who you are! I think you are a blogging guru and goddess, but I will not announce you to the world, for fear that you would become a blogging 'help desk'!

7 week photo shoot

So... we had William's pictures taken this week - by Chris W, who did our wedding a little over 3 years ago! We love the pictures and a few highlights include:

• Us learning that Wiliam does NOT like being undressed
• William peeing on me - twice. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes with me - which prompted Philip to call me a Boy Scout. Hey, there is nothing wrong with being 'always prepared.'
• Having to feed the little man in the middle of the session (thanks for being patient, Chris!) It's a good thing I was 'prepared' with a bottle

We understand the strong possibility that William will soon be rolling his eyes with embarassment at everything his parents do... and thus, we are trying to get in all of the family portraits and sweet kisses while we still can!
Here are a few of my favs:

The Last Dr Pepper

So, this baby weight is sticking around. I thought that all of the pounds would magically fall off by now. (Isn't breastfeeding supposed to help with that?)

But, since they haven't, I have decided to make some adjustments to my diet (currently: terrible) and exercise (currently: none.)

The first thing to change? No more Dr. Pepper. I developed a new love for it when I was pregnant... and just haven't stopped drinking it. I could probably write a whole post on why I love the sugary caffeine goodness so much - but I digress.

Just in case cutting Dr. Pepper doesn't help me drop ALL of the baby weight, future posts could include: "No More Ice Cream", "I love salads" and "Hitting the Pavement."

But as my wise friend recently reminded me, baby weight is "9 months up, nine months down."

William's To Do List

For those of you that know me, and if you are reading my blog, I assume you do – I love lists. To-do lists, grocery lists, etc… So, I have created a list that sums up 6-week old William’s days. In even as little time as a week, I am sure this list will be different – so its main purpose is to help me remember what the little guy (and consequentially, I) was up to at this point in time.

1. Eat – usually 8 times a day for about 20 minutes each. Mom takes most of the feedings for now, but usually Dad feeds William a bottle once a day.
2. Make dirty diapers – usually around 10 a day! Who knew?
3. Change clothes – we usually can’t get through item #1 or #2 without getting the clothes dirty. I think the most we changed William’s clothes was 6 times in a day…. Before I stopped counting! When I was pregnant, one of my co-workers (who has 2 boys) told me she does 3 loads of laundry a day. I thought she was crazy. Now I get it.
4. Play – How does an infant play? I wondered this myself when we first brought him home. “What should I DO with him when he is not eating or sleeping?” Now, playtime is my favorite time with him. Some our favorite things to do are: read books (never too early!), go on short walks around the block, ride in the car (he LOVES the car!), sit in the bouncy chair (and kick, kick, kick), have tummy time (he doesn’t like tummy time yet, but we still do it), and “sitting up” – he loves to be propped up on our legs to face us. Most of the time, we just stare at him, talk to him, and love on him… and we consider that play time too!
5. Sleep – He is in a nice little schedule of Eat, Play, Sleep. He sleeps anywhere from 1-5.5 hours, with the shorter naps being during the day and the longer ones being at night. God must give a special grace to new parents. I LOVE my sleep, but am somehow able to tear myself from it at least twice a night to feed the little man.

6. Bathe – William took his first real bath about a week ago (after his cord fell off). We bath him every day (usually) and he loves them! (I almost forgot to add bathe to this posting... I'm glad I remembered. Wouldn't want anyone calling CPS thinking we don't bathe our child!)

7. Grow – William is constantly growing and changing! Most recently he has starting kicking, cooing, and even smiling at us! It’s still hard to tell who he looks like most, but he sure gets more handsome every day. And my Granny put it best when she said, “He looks like himself.”

8. Make my parents fall more in love with me...

4 weeks

William will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! Here are a few pictures...

Touched by Prayer

One of the most special things about these past few weeks is getting to spend time (even if brief) with so many loving family and friends. It is so special to see how much love William is surrounded by. And to be honest, I have been humbled - my soul has been touched - by how much love Philip and I are surrounded by.

One of the things that has made the biggest impact on me over the past few weeks is how many people have said "I prayed for you" or "We prayed for you" or "My prayer list prayed for you" or "So-and-so has been praying for you." How can I respond to so many and such sincere prayers that were lifted to the Lord on my behalf? The 'do-er' in me feels a bit frustrated that I can't DO anything in response. I can't send everyone who prayed a thank you note. I can't even repay everyone with reciprocal prayers. The only thing I can do is humbly and gratefully accept these prayers... knowing that there is nothing I did to deserve them, but that my life has been forever touched by them.

And... I can 'pay it forward.' Prayer has taken on a new meaning in my life. Knowing how much I have been touched by the prayers of others, and truly believing that the Lord hears our prayers, has given me renewed vigor and joy in praying over others. So, I would like to send a heartfelt "THANK YOU" to all of these prayer warriors who have blessed me so much.

And, as a quick update... we are doing great! William went to the pediatrician today and is healthy and growing. I am healing great and feeling well!

"Do we not find our minds wandering and ourselves even a tad bored in prayer at times because we wonder whether our words are bouncing off the ceiling? How differently would we pray if Christ appeared bodily and sat in a chair across from each of us, leaning forward to concentrate on what we are saying? Beloved, if only we would realize that although He is invisible to us, that is in essence what He does!" - Beth Moore