William at 20 months! Summer 2016

Boy is it hard to sit down and write these!  We are so busy with you and your sisters that it leaves me wiped at the end of the day!  William....you continue to be the biggest joy.  You are now 20 months old.  You either sit still or you run - you hardly ever walk (very much like your sister Summer)!  Your favorite word is 'more', and we hear new words come out of your mouth every day.  You love to climb things, try to jump, clap, eat, and be in the water, but most of all explore on your own.  You love to be off in the backyard, often out of my eyesight, just walking around and looking at things.   We have been to the pool at Mimac and Beeps' house a bunch so far this summer and your love of the water continues.  You have ZERO fear, which gives me fear!!  You get so excited and are happy, though, that it is hard to not feel the same way you do.  In the past week you have begun to jump off the side of the pool and you even have gone off the diving board!  We put as many floaties on you as possible because you have not figured out any part of swimming or water survival!

You love your Beeps.  When we are 2 streets away from their house, you start to say his name over and over.  When you are out back, you search him out before you do anything.  You often take his hand and lead him over to the birdfeeders, telling him that you want to help him refill them.  He is one of your favorite people.  You also love your Daddy.  When his car pulls into the driveway after work, if you are paying attention you run to the front door screaming "Dada! Dada! Dada!"  It is the cutest.

Speaking of doors, we have to continue to lock and babyproof as much as possible.  You love to be outside and will try to go out the garage or back doors 20 times a day.  We have had to switch the garage door so it locks from the outside and you can't unlock it and get out.  The back door has to have the deadbolt on constantly so you can't get out there without us knowing!  Any open bathroom door is an invitation for you to play in the toilet.

You really don't like it when I leave.  When a babysitter comes through the door, you begin crying and run to me.  You will hold onto me so tightly that I don't even have to hold you!!  I can open my arms up wide and you will still cling to me.

Finally, you love things that fly through the sky.  Any airplane noise and you point up and yell "jet!", which sounds like "et!".  You love seeing the garbage man, and when we are inside and I tell you "lets go play, Will", your response is always "vroom", which means you want to play with trucks.  You seem to be a boy through and through, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  We love you to pieces and are so happy to have you in our lives.

Wow, does time fly. Catching up..

My sweet Will.  There will be so many things that I have forgotten in the past 10 months.  I wish I had thought to log on here and type!  It's August and summer is almost over.  We went to a Tides game this week - your first! - and let you try some ice cream.  You loved it!  It had us thinking to your very quickly upcoming first birthday.  I bet you are going to destroy some cake! :)

Here are some firsts that I can remember:

First tooth - 8.5 months.  Your second one came a week later!
Crawling - 9 months.  You did start with an army crawl, but it didn't last long.  Month 8 was a big one for you, as you seemed to really master sitting, started inching forward, then crawling, then pulling up.  Now you are a machine and go wherever you want, SO FAST!
Words - we think you have said mama and dada to us, but we aren't sure yet.  those are your favorite sounds to make, so you make them an awful lot.

We started you on solid foods at 6 months.  You have NOT looked back.  Everything we have given you, you have loved!  So much so that you're weening yourself off of a bottle.  You are down to 2 bottles a day, and I think you could do one.

You are now a great sleeper!  It took until almost 6 months, but now you sleep for 2 hours in both the morning and afternoon, then from 7-6:30 at night!

We have taken you in the car to both Florida and Maine, and you are as great of a traveller as your sisters!  You like someone sitting next to you, but that's about all you need to be happy in the car, even for long stretches.

You LOVE the water.  When you were just a few months old, you would sit in your baby bathtub and move your hands.  It was never very coordinated or strong, but you would do it.  Then, as the months went by, your hands never stopped.  They just got better at what they were doing!  You cannot take a bath without getting soaking wet (even in an inch of water!) and also getting whoever else is in the bathroom with you soaking wet!  In the pool at Mimac and Beeps' house you get very frustrated.  We are never busy enough for you!  If you are being held, we have to be constatly moving around, otherwise you try and get out of our grasp!  If we put you in the float you are happy for a minute or two, but then you try and climb out!  But when we put you out of the pool, you turn around and start crawling towards the water again!  The ocean is the only place you are chill by or in the water.  I think because of the waves, you are mesmerized by the moving water.

You also love being pushed around in the (pink) car.  When Kate and Summer are playing out front, we can put you in the pink car.  We can push you around, or you can just sit there and you are content for a while!  I think you really enjoy watching your older sisters, and Jay & Madeline play.

Welcome to our family!

My sweet baby boy.  You are 4 weeks old today - how fast those 4 weeks have gone!  I feel as though there are a lot of things I have not done enough of these past few weeks - kissed you, held you, taken pictures, told you I loved you...although I have done each of those things countless times each day.  Life with 3 kids is crazy for sure, but in the best way possible.  Your Daddy and I are so thankful for you and so happy to welcome you into our family.  Your big sisters are impossibly in love with you, more than you could ever understand.  They won't stop touching, kissing and asking to hold you.

You came into the world 2 days early, on September 24, 2014.  You were supposed to be born via c-section on September 26, but you wanted your own day.  I went into early labor and they decided to just take you then.  You were born at 9:46pm and were 7lbs 5oz and 19.5 inches long!  You are named after your Grandfather and Great-Grandfather.  Morris is your Dad's dad and just about the best man we know.  He is smart, a hard worker, but a kind and gentle soul too.  William was your great-grandfather.  I never knew him, but he was my Dad's (Beeps) Dad.  From all the stories I ever heard of him, he was the life of the party - always doing fun things, and bringing happiness into their home.

Mimac stayed with us for a week to help out with you, the cooking and the girls.  We are so thankful for her!!!  You have smiled a few times this month and I have heard a few giggles, but I am pretty sure they are all connected to gas :).  I am anxiously awaiting your first "real" smile.  I'm hoping it will happen in the next 2 weeks!  You wake up at night a few times, but you are starting to give me longer stretches - 4 1/2 hours, or 3 1/2 hours.  I can't wait until you sleep through the night!