The Park

I love spring in DC! This past week the weather has been fantastic and both Taylor and I have been taking William to the park. He loves the park! It's so funny to watch him laughing on the swings and amazing how quickly he learned how to push himself down the slide on his own! He loves the slide!

I swear in this photo he is saying, "Look Mom! I'm a big boy and can do it on my own!"

The neighborhood kids LOVE William. So much so that Taylor has to rescue him sometimes!

9 months

William turned 9 months old today! I can't believe how quickly this year is going by and how much of a little boy he is now. Today he had his 9 month doctor appointment. He weights 21 lbs 7 oz, and is 29 inches long. This puts him just under 75% for weight and solidly 75% for height.
I love our pediatrician for many reasons (including the fact she always listens to me, offers great advice, is incrediably smart and seems to love her patients) but what I love best is how when she sees William she gets excited about how much he's grown. She told me once that her favorite part of her job is watching the babies grow up! Anyway, she was happy to report that William is a healthy, happy little boy!
This weekend, William has his last sign and sing class and then he meets his Aunt Clarissa! Yay! Sunday we might take him to the zoo. New pictures coming soon.

Cousin Kaylee

While we were on the Cape, we were lucky to see Cousin Kaylee. Just 10 days older than Willaim, Kaylee is growing up to be a quite a little lady! William had so much fun with his cousin!

William on the Cape!

Spring Break, Baby! Rather than go south to somewhere warm, William and I headed north to Boston to spend the week with his Grandparents!

Happy Baby, Happy Grandparents!

William and Pat. William thinks Pat is the greatest because he gave William his own computer to play with.



William with his Grandpa Mike!
Did I mention that Patrick got engaged?!?! AHHH. My baby brother is getting married! Look at what great taste he has.
The happy couple, Patrick and Jen!
William with his soon to be Aunt! (Well, sort of soon-can you believe this crazy couple thought they were going to elope by themselves. Hahahahahahaha!)
William also tried pancakes for the first time. I think this is not only the first non-organic food he's ever had, but also the first food with sugar in it. Though the syrup was sugar free. Yes, I caved under parental pressure. But not again. (Though William seemed to enjoy it.)

William playing with the toys Grandma Donna bought him. Thanks Grandma!

Desperate for Pat's cell phone!

Backward and Standing!

I know I've mentioned that William infinitely prefers cruising around to anything on his tummy. I swear, he rolls onto his tummy, decides it's faster to walk and gets upset when he can't move. The past couple of days though he's figured out how to push himself onto his hands and knees so I do think he'll take off in the near future. He's also figured out how to go backward. This is frustrating because he is usually trying to get something that is in front of him!
Today we were at a coffee shop with some friends and William and his pal, Elliot were resting on their tummies on the floor. (I know, I use to think putting William on a public restaurant's floor was gross too, but it was pretty clean and he's only had one cold at 7 months old which the doctor said was fantastic so I am not so concerned.) William scooted himself backwards until he was under the stroller. Then he was stuck! It was kind of funny, though he wasn't so thrilled.
Also today, Taylor and I were playing with William on the floor. As usual he was using us to pull himself to a standing position. All of a sudden he let go and just stood there! He even reached for his blankie and stayed upright! My little baby is growing up. Will I ever get use to this?!?

First 1st Birthday Party!

This weekend our friend, Tyler, turned 1 years old! This was William's first pal to turn one and we had so much fun celebrating with him and our friends. It's crazy to me that I met a lot of these ladies when we were all pregnant last year and now Tyler is 1 and the rest of the babies are not far behind! (I know William is still a few months away, but he's already recieved his first present! Thanks Mom and Dad! We are keeping it safe until you can officially give it to him-maybe we'll leave assembly for you too!)

William had fun playing with all of his friends especially Lilah who is two days older than William. We may throw a joint party this summer!

Six Full Seconds

Today William was jumping on the floor holding on to my hands. I was sitting in front of him. He all of a sudden let go of my hands and stood all on his own for SIX whole seconds. (I counted, One one thousand, two one thousand...) He was very proud of himself! As was I.

Sign and Sing and Life Update

This past weekend we took William to his first Sign and Sing class! It was great fun. William was the most active baby there though. Remind me that some day soon I am going to have to teach him how to sit still! For those of you hoping that I was able to capture video of Taylor actually singing you are out of luck. I will, however, attempt to employ some stealth and record him some day soon.
In other life updates, we (obviously) survived the snow quite well. My other babies, Sampson and Delilah had the toughest time I think. The snow was well above their heads and we (Taylor) had to shovel out a place for them in the yard. Delilah was quite cold and enjoyed wearing the towel when she came back in to warm up!



(Also note, I came downstairs after putting William in his crib for a nap to find Delilah on the table. She climbed up looking for leftover baby food. And got stuck!)

Taylor is doing well. He's having fun with William while I am at class. In fact, Taylor has observed many of William's "firsts" before me! (Which really isn't fair. I spend most of the day with him. William should be sharing these moments with me!) For example, the first time William pulled himself up to a standing position was in the bathtub with Taylor. Blah. At least he did it again for me the next day and now does it ALL the time. (Nowhere is safe! We are going to have to lower the crib.)
William is changing every day. In addition to pulling himself up, he is working on his top two front teeth. One of them is in, the other is lagging behind a bit but should be here soon. His newest habit is flipping himslef on his tummy in the middle of the night. Since it's a little surprising to him and he really doesn't like his tummy and he's tired, he choses to cry until someone rescues him rather than flip himself back. (He flips himself back when he's awake! Why won't he do it when he sleeps?!?)
I am doing well too! School is busy, our social schedule is busy (this week, William and I have had lunch, coffee, swimming and a play group with my Mommy friends!) It was wonderful to have a week home with both Taylor and William! It was nice to see Taylor during the day! Beyond that things are chugging along in the Smith-Chesnik household!

The Floating Arm

Today a friend of mine mentioned that William looks more like a toddler than a baby which made me gasp. I mean what's next? Will he look like he's headed off to college when he starts preschool? But I understand her sentiment. My baby is growing up. He's almost 8 months old; a happy, active, bouncy, TALKATIVE baby!
I bet you are wondering what all this has to do with a floating arm. Well, it reminded me that soon (too soon or not soon enough, I am not sure) I'll be weaning William from nursing and I don't want to forget this special time. The time of the floating arm.
When William nurses, he has one arm trapped between our bodies. His other arm kind of floats around aimlessly and delicately. Sometime it rests on my arm and gently strokes. Sometimes it pats his hair. Occasionally it tugs his ear. Often it drifts up to my face so I can kiss each finger one by one. It has also been known to rub his blankie against his face. But in every movement the arm is languid, relaxed and gentle. It constantly makes me smile. And that is the floating arm!

(I don't have any pictures of the floating arm, but I do have new pictures of William below.)

Bundled Up

Here is William all bundled up in the cold:




And William bored from being stuck inside during the storm:





We got so bored from all the snow that we did go out to dinner two nights ago and lunch yesterday with friends. William was so excited to see his little friends!

Snowmageddon 2010

So here in DC we've had what the media is referring to as Snowmageddon or Snowpocalypse or Snowtorious BIG etc. etc. etc. Basically we got 20 inches of snow Friday night and everything has shut down in response. No work for Taylor or school for me. Some cautious school districts have already closed THROUGH FRIDAY. I can't imagine this happening in Massachusetts. In fact, I remember the whole high school banding together to dig out everyone's car in the parking lot and then push them up the hill to get out.

Here's the view at midnight on Friday night:


Here's the street the next morning:


And some of Taylor shoveling which he's done for the past three days:

Creeping, Crawling, Talking, Life Update

William is so close to crawling AND walking. When we put him on his hands and knees he rocks back and forth as if he knows that he's supposed to be moving but can't quite figure out how. His favorite thing to do these days is stand up, hold onto his toy basket and walk around it while pulling out toys. He'll also walk from the basket, to the sofa and to his entertainment table. Yesterday, he got excited and let go of the basket. Instead of falling, he actually stood all on his own for about 4 seconds! I don't know which one of us was more surprised!
I was getting concerned that he wasn't making any attempt to pull himself up, but then he did it twice. First, in the bath with Taylor, he pulled himself from a sitting to standing position. Then this afternoon with me, he used his table to pull himself to a standing position. He also pushed himself from his hands and knees into a sitting position. Now if he could only push himself up to his hands and knees!
He's babbling up a storm lately! Mamamamamma, bababab, aba aba aba, etc. He's pretty much never silent or still. I was telling Taylor last night that as much as I love this phase of William's life, I miss the days when he would just curl up in my arms and sleep. He's too full of life and excited to see everything to take many breaks now. Though he hasn't been feeling well this week so we've gotten a few snuggles in...


In other family news, we have about 20 inches of snow here in DC! Taylor got off of work early on Friday and has tomorrow off as well. Unfortunately it looks like I have school tomorrow, but at least we'll enjoy the day together in the morning. Because William hasn't been feeling well, we haven't taken him outside yet but I think tomorrow we'll bundle him up and go make a snowman in the front yard. Or go sledding. Sampson and Delilah are doing well too. They don't love the snow because it's over their head but they do love having everyone home!