One Month!

I cannot believe that it has been an entire month since we left University Hospital with our little boy.  What a whirlwind these past four and a half weeks have been.  William and I could not be any more blessed with Wills and the joy he has already brought to the two of us and our families.  We thank God every day for allowing us to be his parents. 

Wills has grown so much in a month!  He is a little piglet that LOVES to eat.  He is still eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Every now and then, during the night, he will stretch it to 4 hours.  I guess he is not ready to sleep any longer right now.  I'm not rushing him, or wishing away time, but I am looking forward to a few more consecutive hours of sleep in the coming months.

He is in size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes.  He still loves his swing, bouncy chair, car seat, and stroller.  We are trying to get in the habit of taking a walk everyday, but the hours seem to fly by and sometimes we miss our opportunity.  We still swaddle him every night.  We just started bathing him in the sink, and he loves the warm water and mirror.  What else??  He is getting so strong with his head.  He lifts it up off of our shoulder and can hold it up for a second or two.  He still loves to listen to us talk and sing to him.  He is very attentive and doing a great job tracking with his eyes.  He's done very well with the few bottles he's had, and we are working to incorporate a bottle a day in preparation for my return to work.  He probably thinks his name is Little Boy or Peanut because that seems to be what we all call him.  He doesn't seem too interested in his books, yet, but of course this book-loving English teacher still reads to him. :)

We love you, Wills!  Happy One Month Birthday!

Weekend Fun

It's not Land's End (we will be there soon!)...but, if you spread out some newspaper, top it with crabs that were swimming less than three days ago, break out the wine, cheese and crackers, and play a little Van Morrison in the background, you can pretend.  That's what William, Wills, Finn and I did last week. 

Gammy and Papa sent the crabs, William and I picked them, Wills supervised, and the night ended with delicious crab cakes!  It was the perfect quiet evening we needed leading up to a weekend full of wedding festivities. 

Dallas and Emily are married!  The entire weekend was beautiful!  William and I were so honored to be a part of the day.  We couldn't have done it with out the help of our family and our sweet, cooperative little boy.  He did great being away from us for so long. 

My favorites of the weekend: seeing my friend, Emily, so happy, dancing the night away with my husband (we love dancing at weddings, and it had been so long; I don't think we left the dance floor), Krystal burgers delivered at the reception at 10 pm, and kissing on my little boy's sweet, chubby cheeks when it was all over.
I had a great time Friday and Saturday night but really missed Wills and was ready to be home. :)

Celebrating with William's life-long friends and now some of my closest friends was so much fun for both of us!  I wish I had more pictures from the weekend. :(

We had a limo ride from the Partridge Inn Penthouse to First Baptist!  Thanks, Emily!

William and I were proud and excited to see this in the program.  William changed his name to Senior when Junior was born.  :)

I forgot to mention that at Wills' two week doctor's appointment he weighed 9 lbs and was 22 inches long.  He is in the 75th percentile for his weight and the 90th percentile for his height.  Big surprise, right?  This boy is LONG!

I can't believe he will be a month old tomorrow!  Time, please slow down a little. 

He's making a list...

Don't get me wrong...October is a great month.  It's actually my second favorite, if there is such a thing.  I love the crisp air, pumpkin spice lattes, college football, Halloween chili with the Brighams, red wine on the back deck with my hubby, fresh shrimp from Land's End, scarves and boots, and the memories of this time of year in Athens.  (On a side note, there will be a pumpkin carving re-match this year.  Forget about last year.  You're going down, William.)  October is a close second...but, I have to admit, it is second. 

For me, there is nothing like the time of year where the air is full of joy; parties are festive; carols are playing in every store; cookies are baking; Home Alone is on tv; trees are lit; families are together; people all around the world are celebrating the birth of Jesus.  I love December!  And yes, it is early and thanks to my dad's wisdom I'm "not wishing away time", but yesterday I realized that Christmas is not too far away. 

Thankfully, yesterday morning I was able to get out of the house for an hour or so and get my hair cut.  Dede came to take care of Wills.  Thank you, Dede!

After having my hair shampooed, I looked around, waiting for Sarah, and could not believe my eyes! 

It was SANTA!  He is about to get super busy at the North Pole and knew he needed to freshen up before the holidays.  He flew all the way from the North Pole to DJ & Company to have his hair cut and beard trimmed.  Mrs. Claus was having a massage upstairs; the elves, he explained, were at a last minute toy conference, and the reindeer were in a flight refresher course.  This was his last chance to sneak away for a day and relax in the salon. 

I was so excited to see him that I knew I must get a picture.  At first, I tried to be discrete.

Check out the red socks.

Then I gave in and just asked him.  Of course he agreed to a picture.  I introduced myself and told him about Wills.  He said he couldn't wait to meet him and visit our home for years to come.  :)

Before leaving, he called out, "Merry Christmas, Eve...Don't worry, you're on the nice list."  :)

"Merry Christmas, Santa," I said. 

I'm 27 years old, and yesterday, I was giddy to see Santa.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for teaching us to "believe."   You made Christmas special for two little girls for so many years.  Those memories and traditions never go away.  I'm thankful for that and excited to share them with my little boy. 

Missing Pictures

The computer is home!!!  Yay!!!

Here are the missing pictures from the last post.

Sissy's Birthday Party



The Rosebud for Wills.  Thanks, Uncle Tone!

Happy Birthday Dede!

Wills' first bottle

Highlights

It has been a long week waiting on our computer to return home.  William took it to the shop to be scanned and cleaned.  Unfortunately, he had to take it back today.  Sorry for the wait.

A lot has happened in the past week.  Wills is three weeks old!!!  I want to highlight the big moments and, hopefully, return to regular blogging asap.  I will add more pictures as soon as I can.

Wills attended his first birthday party!  Aunt Sissy turned 25!  Tony planned a festive event, and Wills and I hosted.  We didn't do much, at all, so we can't take any credit. 

I enjoyed my first sangria.  Delicious!

Sunday, October 9th, was a special day for us.  Wills' Godfather, Uncle Tone, arranged for a rosebud to be on the altar at church in celebration of Wills' birth.  It was really sweet and emotional and meant so much to me and William.  Wills' is beyond lucky to have Tony in his life.  Again, I will post the picture of the rosebud and church bulletin when the computer comes home. :(

Wills also attended Dede's birthday party this week.  It, too, was held at our house.  We grilled burgers and enjoyed being with William's mom and brother, JD.  We are trying to stick with the pediatrician's advice and not take Wills in public for one month.  Thus, the get-togethers and family birthdays have been at the Mooney residence. 

William gave Wills his first bottle.  It went really well but took forever!  I am sure Wills will get used to it and next time will be even better.  I have a really sweet picture of this, too. 

Here are two from my phone to bide the time.

Saturday, October 15th, was the first date night for me and William.  Aunt Sissy and Uncle Tone came and kept Wills.  Saying I was excited is a huge understatement.  Of course, I was nervous about leaving him for the first time, but I knew he was in great hands, so I was determined to enjoy myself.  William and I had dinner at Carrabas.  The conversation was better than ever (right, William ;) ), the meal was delicious, the glass of wine was perfect, and I had on a new outfit.  :) We left dinner and went to Dallas and Emily's.  It was a beautiful night on their back deck; the Dawgs were playing...and winning; it was so good to see all of our friends and spend some time with them.  We thoroughly enjoyed our evening and are looking forward to being a part of their wedding this coming weekend.  Thank you, Aunt Sissy and Uncle Tone!  And thank you, Wills, for being so sweet and such a good baby boy.  We are so blessed!

On a side note, I have something REALLY exciting to share as soon as the computer is back. Some may disagree as to the level of excitement this actually is, but if you know me, you'll understand.  Here's a hint...Christmas is coming and someone important is preparing!  Woo hoo!

Back to the Kitchen

My dad tells a funny story about one of his memories of my mom's pregnancy.  He says she was not a good pregnant woman.  She hated it!  By the time my sister's due date was here, she was so ready to have her that she was making both of them miserable.  My dad says that she felt so great after giving birth, that the day she came home from the hospital she was in the kitchen baking cookies.  He couldn't believe it.

I am thankful that I didn't have a miserable pregnancy.  In fact, I only had a few moments where I was extremely uncomfortable and wishing for the end.  Since giving birth, like my mom, I have felt great!  So, this morning I decided that I would try a new recipe.

Since my strawberry loving husband has been out of town, I knew the fruit was going to spoil if I didn't find a use for it.  I pulled out my Tee Time cookbook (second time around) and found a recipe for strawberry bread.  I decided to try it out but make muffins instead.

Of course right when I decided to get started the camera battery died.  I only had a window of time before the little boy woke up, so I had to go ahead with the baking.  I used my phone for the pictures.  The quality of the pictures is pretty terrible.  :(

I gathered the ingredients.

I mixed the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar together.

I added 4 eggs, oil and the strawberries to the mix.

 Because I used fresh strawberries instead of frozen, my mom explained to me that I could add a Tablespoon or two of sugar to them to help make a little juice.

I baked them on 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I enjoyed one with my morning cup of coffee, which I have thoroughly missed for the past 9 months!  So thankful for these simple things in life!

After enjoying a muffin...or two, I decided it was time for one of these.

Busy Boy

Wills has had a busy couple of days.  He had his newborn photos taken on Wednesday by Ashleigh Dees Photography.  Mandy Fox helped her and hosted the photo shoot at her home.  Ashleigh was only able to get a few sleeping pictures because this bright eyed boy woke up and was too curious to go back to sleep.  I am so pleased with these two pictures; I can't wait to see the others.  

William left Thursday night for a two night get-away to celebrate our friend Dallas and his upcoming wedding to Emily.  Wills and I have been spending some great time with Gammy and Papa.  They came over and my dad cooked my favorite: "slug-fest" chicken. 

It was a beautiful night to be on the deck.  I love this weather.

Wills enjoyed a morning sponge bath.

And some tummy time.  He wasn't too fond of this.  I'm sure he will get used to it as time goes by.  I'm not even sure if we are supposed to be doing this yet.  Guess I need to look it up in the What to Expect Book and add this question to my growing list for the pediatrician.

Did I mention he's 12 days old and been to the doctor 3 times?  What can I say, I'm a nervous new mom!  But my mom has made me feel better and assured me that all 3 times were for legitimate reasons and two of them were simple weight checks. Thanks, Mom!  :)

Wills met his first cousin, Isabella.  She was great with him.  She was very serious about caring for him like she would her baby dolls.  It was really sweet. 

He helped celebrate Aunt Sissy's birthday with a quick family lunch.  His first birthday party will be tomorrow night when we really celebrate Sissy!

And, he spent some sweet time with his mommy.  I love this little boy!

On a side note, William and I can't wait to get back here!  We are itching for the little boy to get to know one of our most favorite places: Land's End and the coast.  William, Papa, and Uncle Tone have big plans for this little boy on the water.  :)

Daddy's Boy

I'm my daddy's boy! 

William picked out this onesie for Wills in hopes that they will share a passion for music.  We hope he gets his daddy's musical talent and not mine.  :)



Push Prize

A few months ago, William and I had dinner with some good friends of ours, the Sheffields.  Emily was giving William a hard time and asking him if he'd thought about a Push Prize.  To be honest, neither of us knew what she was talking about.  She went on to explain that a Push Prize is the gift a husband gives his wife after she goes through the nine months of pregnancy and labor.  The idea is that it could be something for the mom to give to that child one day.  Anyway, we never spoke again about a Push Prize.  I figured this little guy was prize enough.



 William has told me over and over again, since Wills was born, how proud he is of me.  He has been so sweet throughout the entire process.  Today, he mentioned that he had a surprise for me.  Usually when he says this he comes home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers...which I love.  However, today he walked in empty handed but with a huge smile on his face.  He wrapped me in his arms and told me he had something for me.  Again, he told me how proud he was of me on Sunday and the past 10 days.  He started asking me a series of questions.  He asked, "Do you remember that gift we heard about for having a baby; what do you think would be a good gift for that?"  I didn't answer.  He then asked, "Do you know what Wills' birth stone is?"  I started to get excited.  I knew that September was a sapphire, but I was scared to say anything.  I was still quiet.  He asked, "What color represents little boys?"  I answered this one.  "Blue."  He started reaching into his pocket, and I started crying.  He pulled out a green box, and told me that he wanted me to think of Wills and the day he came into our lives every time I looked at this.  And one day, to maybe give it to him, to give to the woman he loves. 

I opened the box.  Inside was a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring.  It is gorgeous!  I am still in shock and so surprised that he remembered one conversation about a Push Prize.  He never ceases to amaze me.  I'm one lucky girl.