Happy Half Birthday to Will!

Has it really been six months since our newest little miracle graced us with his presence? How is it possible that time has gone this quickly? Will continues to grow and astound us every day.

So what has Will been up to as he hits this big six month milestone? Well he has been working hard to balance himself and sit up. He still doesn't quite have it down, but he seems to get better and better at it everyday. He uses his hands to help balance himself, but as soon as he reaches for anything he is down for the count. I think Will needs to really concentrate to sit up, so he wasn't too willing to give me smiles while he sat.

He continues to teeth like crazy. Sophie and his Nuby teething ring have become his new best friends. Max had at least two teeth at this point - thank you past blog post for helping me to remember - but Will's don't seem to be in too much of a hurry to make an appearance. He does LOVE to put everything into his mouth now, and since he is crazy flexible this also includes his feet. I have also noticed that his hand eye coordination has greatly improved over the past month or so. He can grab anything and get it right where he wants it, which usually happens to be in his mouth. He sometimes passes toys between hands.

Will has his six month check up on the third of November, so I will talk to his pediatrician about how I should go about starting solids. Can you tell I'm not too terribly excited about this milestone? To tell the truth Will hasn't really even seemed interested at all until the last week or two, so I don't feel too badly about it. I guess I need to bring up the highchair!

In honor of Will's half birthday we have a friend coming over to take pictures of the boys tomorrow - and maybe a few of Brian and I too. We went to college with LeeAnn and she is just starting a photography business. Her pictures are gorgeous and I can't wait to see her work her magic tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for pictures soon!

Pumpkin Picking

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to hit the pumpkin patch with Aunt Kathy and the cousins. I was excited that we were actually able to take the kids out into the field to see how the pumpkins grew. I tried explaining that pumpkins grow from the flowers on the vine, but the kids were more interested in climbing on the giant pumpkins than in listening to my science lesson.

We did get Baby Will out of the Ergo long enough to pose for a picture with his big brother and cousins. Paisley cracked us up when she complained that Will was making her tummy hurt. I guess that is a five year old way of saying get this baby off of me.

The kids played at the playground for a while and we posed for a family shot. It is scary how few family pictures we have - most of them are just of the boys. We did leave with one small pumpkin. I tried to convince Max to pick out a better one, but he was pretty insistent. Today he realized he didn't make the best pick. He looked at his pumpkin on the counter when we got home, told me it was 'icky' and tried to throw it away. He cracks me up!

As we enjoyed the pumpkin patch yesterday I couldn't help but think of where we were a year ago. We had an offer to buy our house, I was about four months pregnant, and we were preparing to move in with my parents. We didn't even make it to the pumpkin patch last year. This year is a whole different ball game. We have not one, but two beautiful little boys to enjoy the fall. We are well settled in our new house and still can't believe we actually sold the old one. I have even started working on the boys Halloween costumes - or maybe I should say I started on Will's and Nonna has started on Max's. What a difference a year makes!

Weekend Fun

As I type both boys are upstairs sleeping. I wonder how long this will last? I guess they are both worn out after a fun filled weekend. Yesterday morning Max and daddy headed to Lowe's to build a fire engine - with a working siren even. Max got an apron and safety goggles and he loves his little fire engine. I will get him to pose with it after nap. In the afternoon we had several tree stumps ground out in the back yard. Afterwards Brian and Max went to work. They threw out the bigger pieces, raked, and seeded. Max thought it was so fun to throw the grass seed out just like daddy. Don't you just love the Schnuck's stickers all over Max's shirt?

This morning while they were finishing the job by spreading fertilizer, I took Will and headed out to visit a friend and her new baby. Will and Blake looked so darn cute together! Will has a few months on Blake, so he looked huge in comparison. Will is all about teething right now and he almost used poor Blake's little hand. We explained to Will that he couldn't chew on Blake's hand, so instead he decided to hold it. Too cute!

All in all, another wonderful weekend. I know I say this often, but I just can't get over how lucky we are. Life is good, very good!

Five Months Old

We celebrated five months of Will by bringing the exersaucer up from the basement. The exersaucer was one of Max's favorite things. Tonight we had dinner on the porch and Will hung out in the exersaucer while we ate. He loved it! Will's little hands couldn't move fast enough. He just loved making sounds and couldn't get enough. His favorite part was that big brother, Max was right there showing him how it works.

There are times when I feel like I'm not giving Will all that I was able to give Max. Life as a working mom of two little kids is crazy to say the least. I feel like I'm constantly trying to catch up things; catch up on lesson plans, catch up on grading, catch up on housework, catch up on laundry, catch up on time with my boys, catch up on my blogging. . . the list goes on and on. I don't remember feeling quite this stressed going back to work after Max was born. I don't know how it is possible but twice the kids means about ten times the work. The good thing is that the flip side is also true. Our house is full of ten times the fun and ten times the love. While Will does have to share mommy and daddy more than Max did at this age he has something Max didn't have - a big brother. From the way Will is looking up, totally enamored, at Max I think the trade off is worth it.

"I love you Mommy, too"

Okay so this may not be the most grammatically correct sentence in the world but it is the most beautiful thing I could ever hear. This is what Max told me as I tucked him in tonight. It just doesn't get any better than this. How did I get so lucky?

Magic House

On Sunday evening Grandma and Grandpa Dull's church rented out the Magic House. Max was beyond thrilled. While I have to say it is not my favorite place he LOVES it! He explored the Alice in Wonderland exhibit with Uncle Tim. He thought it was pretty neat to look through the peepholes in the door.

He didn't want to stand still for anything and that included pictures. . . you would think we were torturing the poor boy.

Baby Will hung our the Ergo which is still the best baby gadget ever! He had lots of fun looking at people and drooling all over every thing. He has been a crazy drooler lately. In fact, I think he went through three bibs yesterday. Hopefully this tooth will make it's appearance soon so that he can get a bit of a break from the constant drool.

The perfect end to a wonderful evening came in the form of 'white' ice cream. Max was in heaven, as were the rest of us!

Four Month Check Up

Will visited Dr. Goldenberg a couple weeks ago to celebrate turning four months old - and to get some shots. Will did pretty well. He weighed in at 15 lb 7 oz and measured 26 in long. His growth has slowed down a bit, but he is still pretty high in the percentile ranks - 80 and 85th respectively. He is meeting all of his milestones just as an adorable little four month old should. He has even begun to roll over. He had been rolling on to his side for a while, but on Saturday morning he finally made it all the way over from his back to his tummy. He was pretty excited until he remembered that he really doesn't like being on his tummy all that much. He hasn't quite figured out how to get back on his back without help. I'm sure that will come in just another week or so.