An Apple A Day

Today my voracious little eater figured out how to eat a whole apple on his own! He just picked it up, started mouthing it and then, CHOMP. Bit in. Several times. Tonight we decided to pack up some food and have a little picnic at the Botanical Gardens and enjoy some free Wednesday night Jazz. Here are the photos of the little apple-eater that led up to the video below:

Rodney remarked that our kid will be sure to have a vast array of physical talents when he grows up. He has started taking more and more steps lately, although definately prefers crawling. I think the most steps he's taken in succession on his own is 4. It's so cute and I get so excited when he does it. It will be fun if he is walking by the time we visit my folks in Florida in July.

Pointing seems to be the big thing for this kid lately. For a while now he's been pointing to the ceiling fans (not sure why) and I decided to throw in a little "spice" and show him how the fan spins "round and round." So now he points to the fan and moves his arm rapidly in circles. Whenever he does this I say "round and round and round" and he seems to get a kick out of it. He doesn't try to say "round and round" though. Once again- physical talents.

It's incredible to see Will's personality develop as he gets older. He definately likes to be on the move and often gets bored of being at home, no matter how many toy or room changes. It's usually quite amazing to me when he sits contendedly entertaining himself. Today I decided to try putting different kinds of toys on the bathroom floor and closing him in there with me while I showered. He stood at the tub and looked in the shower for a little bit, then began entertaining himself with a basket of books. When he was quiet for a minute or two I peaked out and saw him "reading" a book. It was super cute. He proceeded to do this for the remainder of my shower.

No matter how fussy he gets at home, the minute we step outside for a walk he becomes the most laid back kid. I think he truly takes after his father with his affinity for the outdoors. We've been trying to teach him to be aware of the trees by pointing them out specifically when we walk. Once again, he doesn't try to say the word, but knows what they are when we ask him to point to them. It sounds as if he's completely non-verbal, but he really isn't. Lately he's taken to "babbling" by stringing together nonsense sounds that often seems like a foreign language. He definately says "Che Che" and "Sissi" and "Ma" and "Da." He seems to think I'm also "Na," which I joked is because he's heard Rodney call me "Gi-Na ." It will be so much fun when he actually begins to communicate verbally with us, but for now I'm content with the baby-babble!

Out Like a Lamb

I know that spring is not technically over, but It feels so much like summer that I'm calling it that and I realize that I'm not alone here. What a great time of year. I know I mentioned that spring is my favorite time of year, but really I enjoy summer just as much. We've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible with frequent walks to the park and a few trips already to the pool.

Rodney and Will at the Tower Grove Park Fountain

Marisa mentioned in her most recent post that we've been searching for a pool, and I have found a couple through my friend Anna: Clayton Shaw Park Aquatic Center, and Anna's neighborhood pool. Anna's neighborhood pool allows her to bring guests for free, so Will and I joined her and Luca on Thursday for a dip. Will loved it. It was his first time in a pool and other than clinging to me, he was all smiles and giggles. Then on Friday we met up with a few other mom's/babies at the Shaw Park Aquatic Center wading pool. It is so neat. A massive wading pool that's perfect for babies and toddlers. You can also buy a non-resident pass that gives you 10 visits for $40- the cheapest I've found. We should enjoy this one I'm sure.

Well, spring started like lion for me in the nausea department and has finally gone out like a lamb. While I'm not 100% nausea free, I feel overall much better as of the past few weeks. I start my second trimester on Friday and I am so thankful that everything is going well. I had an ultrasound last Monday and got to see the baby swimming around, which was fun. On July 25th we have our 20 week ultrasound appointment to determine the sex. I have to say that I will be happy with a boy or a girl, but I do think we need some femininity in this household. I'm beginning to feel outnumbered! So, yes I'm rooting for a girl this time around.

As for William, we had his one year check up yesterday, and besides some uncomfortable shots in his arm (first time in this location) it was a great visit. You may recall that one of my biggest concerns was his weight. Well, Marisa's scale was off, thank goodness, and he weighed in at 24 lbs. putting him in the 75th percentile. His length is in the 45th percentile and head (get ready for this) is in the 97th!! Dr. Schmandt said, "that's big, but you have nothing to worry about." Yikes. Guess we have an orange-on-a-toothpick situation on our hands (hee hee)!

Another fun little happening that occurred over the past few weeks was Will's first camping trip. Rodney, Evie and Laura decided to take the Badili students on an end of the year overnight camping trip and Rodney begged to take Will. I told him that he had to talk to the nurse at the pediatricians office before they could go. My biggest concern was ticks. Well, after a great convo with the nurse confirming that it is in fact O.K. to take a 12 month old camping (you have to use lotion-type bug repellent and sunscreen with uva/uvb block) I agreed to let him go. I was to hang out with Sarah on Saturday before she left (moved) for Peoria, so I didn't plan on going. I was nervous about Will being "in the wild" all day and night, but mostly because I knew Rodney would let him roll around in the dirt and not clean him up. I just had to tell myself that Rodney loves Will and would never let any serious harm come to him. Out of sight out of mind had to be my motto with the rest. Sure enough, he did just fine and nothing horrible befell him. He even slept great that night in the tent. I think the worse part was that Rodney had to hold him most of the time and that wore him out of course.

Here's a cute photo of Will getting ready for his big camping debut:

Happy "summer" everyone!

"Look Ma, I'm One!"

I've been trying all week to get this post finished due to computer problems, but better late than never I suppose. The big event in our live recently has been Will turning a year old. We truly cannot believe it's already been a year since he entered our lives (and changed everything- well almost=)). I thought it would be fun to take a look at what we we're doing this time last year and post some photos. I didn't have a blog until August of last year, so most of you haven't seen any of these pics. Even if you have, it's fun to take a walk down memory lane. One year ago (Monday) I was getting strapped onto monitors to prepare for Will's arrival.

After many hours of labor, I ended up having a c-section due to the fact that Will was turned sidewise (facing my hips) and wasn't coming out. I have to admit I was scared.

When I finally had him in my arms I ceased being scared and was totally overcome with love and intense emotion.

He was such a little peanut, 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 1/4 inces.

The days that followed were some of the most blissful I've experienced. We hadn't reached extreme sleep deprivation yet, and every morning we'd lay in bed together and I'd hold him close, smelling his beautiful baby smells and wishing the moment could last forever.



Now a year has passed, and he is a big boy (not only in age, but in size!). I was at Marisa's house this morning and we decided to weigh him: 26.5 lbs. according to her scale. We looked up the percentiles on the World Health Organization's growth charts and it said (gulp) 97th %. We have his one year check-up in a week and a half, and I'll have official numbers then.

The following are pictures from Will's birthday party which took place on Sunday. We rented a little pavilion in Tower Grove park and worried all morning about the rain that poured down until 1 or 2 pm. It was clear by 4:00, the time of the party, and despite mud on the ground it was a pleasant afternoon. We had lots of friends and family there and actually quite a few babies and kids, which was fun. Rodney and I are both very thankful for all the help that his family gave and give kudos to Jerry for grilling up some tasty chicken. It was all in all a very successful first birthday party. Happy Birthday William Paul!

The Red Devils Won, Uncle Paul!

In Honor of Uncle Paul

Paul, Will's godfather, is a raging Manchester United fan. This image of Paul on a trip to Iguazu Falls when he visited us in Paraguay will forever be etched into my memory (his goal was to send this photo in for a chance to be on the cover of United Magazine):





Well, today I promised Uncle Paul that Will would be decked out in his Man U kit in honor of him and the imortant Champions League final between Manchester and Chelsea taking place today. Paul gave this kit to Will on the day he was born and it finally fits him. Here is our "Champions League" photo shoot:

The shoes were from Javi and David and are slightly too big

"This shoe doesn't belong on my foot"

"Finally, freedom from the cleats"

"This is where it really goes"

"Go Manchester!"

Correction

Thanks to Jen for leaving the comment and correcting my statistics. 0.5% chance for uterine rupture is correct, not 5%. My friend Kyle says that 5% is way too high and they wouldn't let women do it if these were the chances. I also appreciate Jen's description of how much easier her recovery was from the vaginal birth. I can only pray that this delivery ends this way. C-sections are brutal.

Mother's day was pretty uneventful, except for the RAGING nausea that punctuated- scratch that- overwhelmed my day. I was scheduled to be the worship leader at church (basically this means the right hand person to the priest during the eucharist and reading one of the scripture passages) and decided that I couldn't back out, so I managed to make it through. Then I rushed to the parish hall for something to eat and found a very healthy (read sarcasm here) donut and devoured it. That helped a little, but after talking to folks for a little while I had to get home fast. After a long nap, Marisa called and invited us to dine with her and Kyle at her Dad's house where he made a DELICIOUS turkey dinner for us and his family. It was a bonified Thanksgiving dinner, complete with homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, greenbean casserole, corn, cranberry sauce, and rolls. My only wish is that I wasn't feeling so sick so I could've truly overindulged.

When we got home we were met by Josh and Jenna Kenyon, Greenville grads who we actually met through St. John's. They left St. Louis for graduate school in Arkansas and we have missed them sorely. They've come back a few times to visit and it is always a great time. We wish they still lived here. They stayed with us last night because they had to catch a very early flight for a trip to Cental America (I'm so jealous). We spent the evening catching up and talking about their trip. It was such a nice time and I even forgot (somewhat) that I was feeling so ill.

Today, thank God, I am feeling better. I still feel a little sick, but not near as bad as yesterday. Maybe this sunshine helps. It definately can't hurt. Here's to one day at a time...

Today is the first day in a while that I did not run to my bed the second Will went down for a nap. Lately, the only way I can function is to sleep while he sleeps. Of course this means that the usual things that I like to do while he's sleeping get put off (blogging, showers, cleaning, etc.). I end up taking my showers while Will is happily (hopefully) playing in his exersaucer immediately after he wakes up and has eaten. This is usually the only time he'll put up with being confined in his own house while he's awake.

I guess I'll continue with a little summary of what's been going on with me, besides the obvious, and then I'll move on to the obvious (little babe growing inside me). On Sunday night we ended our Bach Society season with a wonderful concert at the Cathedral Basilica. Some highlights include a magnificent mass by Steven Mager that was commissioned just for us and premiered Sunday night. The small orchestra was so good and I am now convinced that Steven is a genius. The other highlight (for me) was that I had a small (one verse) solo in our very last piece, a spiritual arrangement of "This Little Light of Mine". I've spent the better part of the last 2 1/2 weeks very nervous about it due to how the nausea has affected my singing, and I was so relieved when I felt pretty good Sunday night and the solo went very well. This is encouraging also because in 2 weeks I am auditioning for the soprano Young Artist award for the Bach Society and I believe I left a good impression on Dennis (our director). Carol has been encouraging me to do this for about a year now I finally feel like I'm ready. We'll see what happens.

As far as the pregnancy goes, things seem to be progressing fine. I had an OB visit on Monday and got a chance to talk to our new doctor (Dr. Turner) about a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and the benefits of trying for one. I changed OB's because Dr. Boedeker told me that they wouldn't let me go into labor next time and had I decided some months after Will was born that I wanted to try for a VBAC. I was already aware of the risks (less than 5% chance of rupturing at the c-section incision) and the main benefit (if you plan on having 3 or 4 kids, multiple c-sections can be hard on a woman's body). Dr. Turner is someone who supports VBACs and emphasized to me how she wants to let women labor but asks for her patients to trust her in the end if something else ends up needing to happen. I have no problem with this and I learned a lot just talking with her. We did talk about women who have planned c-sections and how they report a much easier time of recovery due to the fact that they did not have to labor for extended hours (in my case 30) and in her words: "They know when it's going to happen, so they get a good night's rest the night before, they come in and the procedure is done in 15 minutes. They go directly to their rooms start nursing and having a good 'ole time with their babies because they have lots of energy." Hearing this senario definately made me hesitate, but I was encouraged when she said that I should definately try for it and that I could change my mind at any time.

As for the nausea, it's definately still there but much better lately. There was about a week when I felt so ill all the time and a few days when I couldn't even get out of bed I felt so sick (luckily this was during a weekend and Rodney took care of Will). I am 8 1/2 weeks along and the nausea should be gone in a month. A month is a long time to feel sick, so I'm trying not to think about it. In Rodney's words I just need to take it one day at a time. He's right.

Last night I gave William his first pasta dinner in which he fed himself. I made ravioli for myself and decided to share it with him so I stripped him to his diaper, put on a bib and served him up some. Of course, everyone's got a photo of themselves covered with pasta, so here's Will's official "pasta pic":

It's not the best of the 3 or 4 I took, but I love his smile in this one.

I also got a video this morning of several "tricks" that he's been doing lately: this cuddle thing he does with random objects, making a kissing sound, and waving. He's also been pointing to things and making a clicking sound with his tongue (I try to get him to do this on the video without sucess). Maybe we'll catch those on another video.

Thanks to everyone who left well-wishes on comments on my last post. I appreciate all of your "congrats."