Preparing for Black Friday

Will is scoping out the ads and preparing his shopping list for Black Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lowering the crib...

There have been only 2 times now that I can remember where I have become a little sad that Will is growing so quickly. When he moved from the 4 oz bottles to the 8 oz bottles, I remember thinking that he could never drink that much and that the bottles looked so big. I was sad for the upgrade as it meant he was no longer tiny...

Since then, I have had only one more moment where I was sad. Today we had to lower his crib. Yesterday he couldn't pull himself up and today he can! When I watched him pull himself up using the top of the crib to hold him, I called for Chad that we needed to lower the crib immediately! We did, and now his room looks so different. I really enjoyed going into his room these past few mornings and seeing his little smiling face just over the crib. He would sit up and wait for us to come in. Also, it was easy on the back just to lower him in to go to bed.

Well, we lowered the crib to the lowest rung. I am not sure our nanny will even be able to lower him into the crib without a little step ladder! We will find out tomorrow. His room has a different look to it now, and I am a little nostalgic for the days when he was little and immobile.

Now, he is just so fun and I love watching him attempt to crawl. I assume he will put it all together any day now and we will be chasing him 24x7. He is at a new fun stage where he is saying "dada" and lots of other things, and he has a smile that lights up the world. While I am sad to leave some of the stages we enjoyed, I am looking forward to all that lies ahead!

Top 10 Things Will is Thankful For

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share Will's top 10 list of things he is thankful for this Thanksgiving.

10. Pumpkin bread at Starbucks (I am equally thankful)

9. Maggie, our pug. We are thankful she doesnt seem to mind when Will tugs her ears.

8. Being held, preferably anytime you arent sitting

7. Applesauce

6. Hair. He loves to tug on your hair. Chad has no idea how painful this is!

5. Loli, his nanny

4. Walks

3. His blue silky blankie

2. Swinging at the park

1. Bathtime

Back in Dallas

The rest of our trip went really well, and in a lot of ways we were sad to leave. Will enjoyed his time on vacation, although he still enjoyed the comforts of home...away from home. He still loves his 100 First Words book. Here is his really getting into it. He loves to pat the pictures and for some reason he really is drawn to the telephone picture. It clearly is his favorite image in the book. Wonder where he got that...

It was really priceless to all be together non-stop for so many days. That kind of quality time is hard to come by in our busy lives, and so we will have to make an effort to ensure we get away together as a family. We were excited to get back to our time zone so we are no longer getting up when the clock says 4am!

This is a picture of Will sitting in my seat. He looks so big to me here...The flight home wasn't as fantastic as the first, but Will did just fine once we were moving. We made it home safely and with all of our checked bags. For someone who never checks bag, it was a big deal to trust American Airlines with 4 bags.







Will waves goodbye to Palm Desert!

Poolside in Palm Desert

We are having a great time in Palm Desert! Will is loving his first vacation, although he didn't get the memo about the time change. So, we are up every morning somewhere between 4am-5:30am, and then we are back in the room around 4pm for the night. The sun seems to be on the same schedule as us which definitely makes it easier than I would have imagined.

We have been to the Living Desert, El Paseo Drive, The River, and we have spent lots of time poolside. Will seems to enjoy his time in the pool, and his time in the deck chairs people watching and playing. He appears to be quite the flirt... sharing his big smile with anyone who stops to talk to him.

It hit me today that this the most time I have spent with Will since going back to work, and it is the most time the three of us have spent together consecutively...ever. It has been great for all three of us. We have learned a lot about our little guy, and we feel really lucky that he has been such a great little traveler.

Will's First Flight

We made it to Cali! The trip was really uneventful. We do have more bags than I believe I have ever traveled with - I even had less when I spent a summer abroad. This amazed me as we shipped most major items... in the end there is just a lot of baby stuff you need... or your want to have in your bag of tricks in case you need it.

Everything went well. My favorite part was boarding the plane - we were the last folks to board in first class, and when we took our seats I saw most people do what I would have done. They had that look on their face that said "oh no, a baby in first class. What if he cries the whole time? Did I bring my bose headphones?" I gave that face for years, so I can recognize it a mile away. I know people understand and feel sorry for babies that are crying on flights, but I was really hoping we weren't going to be in the situation where people were feeling sorry for Will. Luckily, he did incredibly well. He drank milk on the way up, climbed all over us like we were his jungle gym, removed our glasses multiple times, took a good nap on me for an hour, and then ate sweet potatoes on the way down. He never made a single cry, but he did let out some good giggles after take off that had people commenting on how cute he was, etc. People seemed very friendly especially after they saw that Will handled flying like a champ.

One of my favorite images that I hope to keep in my head for a while (since I didn't have the camera handy) was watching Will sitting in Chad's lap and both of them were looking out the window as we were coming into Palm Springs. Will was loving the beautiful scenery (or maybe just the fact that we were moving) and it was just so cute to see the two of them in that moment.

After his first flight was such a huge success, I have faith that Will inherited my travel gene. Surely it is something that is in the DNA... I guess we will know for sure after the ride back home!

Cali bound!

The countdown continues... 3 days until Will boards his first plane and we head to California! Thankfully I have some great new mom friends who have shared their tips and tricks. We have shipped formula, diapers, wipes, tylenol and even some new toys to our hotel so they should be waiting for us when we arrive. I am hopeful for an easy plane ride, and I am trying to stay optimistic on how Will might react to the 2 hour time change. Hopefully he will understand that when we set our watches back 2 hours, we are hoping he will also change his internal clock. Im keeping my fingers crossed!

Who doesn't like mashed potatoes?

We found the first food Will doesn't like... mashed potatoes. The boy likes peas, broccoli, green beans... but not mashed potatoes! How can this be??? I fed them to him once, and he had a little bit of a gag reflex. I figured it was just because they may have been a little thick. Well, today we made them thinner, fed them to him, and he did the same thing. Who doesn't like mashed potatoes? The good thing is, we like them so we have a freezer back full of homemade, bite sized mashed potatoes. I hope his taste buds change so he can enjoy the starches as much as his parents.

Oh yes, and Will is still living at home. I think this might be the cutest onesie ever.

Happy Halloween!

Will had a few costume changes for Halloween! We didnt take him trick or treating, but the big treat for us was getting his teething pain under control. Thanks to Kristi for introducing us to Hylands Teething Tablets... when used with Motrin our little guy was back to normal in no time. Here are some of his his halloween pictures.