First Fever

I know we were very fortunate that William hasn't really been sick yet. He had some very slight stuffiness when we turned the heat on and when his teeth were coming in but that was fixed by turning on his humidifier. Yesterday though, William woke up with a slight fever. Because it was Friday and because it was his first fever not associated with his shots, the doctor's office suggested I bring him in. Which I did. The doctor said that he was probably fighting off a cold. And since he doesn't actually have any other symptoms other than the fever, I should just keep an eye on him. He was pretty quiet yesterday, but this morning his fever is lower and he is on the mend. Still no other symptoms so if this is his first illness, I think we got pretty lucky!

Playing

William loves to play with his toys! His current favorites are blocks, the alphabet spinner and the leapfrog learn and sing table. He loves to take all his toys out. I am trying to teach him to put them all back but so far he hasn't figured that out.

Finger Food

While William definitely loves to eat, he doesn't eat a lot of solid food at one time. I think this is because he loves to be independent. When he eats he uses his own spoon and must feel all the food. Because of his love of exploration, and his two bottom teeth, I decided to try him on some solid food.
I am not a huge fan of Gerber puffs. They have what seems to me a lot of sugar per serving. But I do love the Happy Bellies organic puffs! Very little sugar and packed with organic kale. William loves them too. It took him a few days to figure out how to pick them up with his finger and thumb and then how to get them into his mouth, but now he's a pro!

Moments

Sometimes life passes by really quickly (case in point, my baby is now seven months old!) but little moments can stick out and stay with you. Last night I had one of those moments. William has not been sleeping well the past few weeks. He use to easily go to sleep and stay asleep 8 hours before eating and heading back to sleep for a few more hours. Lately it has been hard to get him to sleep and harder to keep him asleep. Since I do not function well on limited sleep this has been difficult for me and I've found myself getting easily frustrated when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Last night though, William reminded me that he sometimes just wants to be close to his parents. He woke up at 11pm, right when Taylor and I were heading to bed. I fed him and put him back down but he wasn't able to soothe himself asleep again. After a few more cuddles and back in the crib attempts, Taylor brought a wide awake William to our bed. We sat him down on the bed in between us and I laid down and closed my eyes hoping to trick him to sleep. Instead my little boy babbled away happily. When he realized that my eyes were closed, he leaned over and patted my face saying, "Ha. Ha." (William speak for Hi.) He did this over and over until I opened my eyes causing him to giggle. It was impossible to be annoyed with him for being awake when he was so happy and so proud of himself for waking me up! He did fall asleep soon after that. It was one of the few nights he's spent in our room, snuggled with us and the dogs in the bed. Next time he wakes up in the middle of the night, I will remember this moment instead of getting upset at the lack of sleep.

William "Smelly Pants" Chesnik

Someone should have warned me about the diaper situation when babies start solid food. Phew! I am thinking of changing William's name...

Seven Months Old!

I can't believe my little baby is seven months old! He's getting to be such a big boy and I am beginning to see the toddler he is turning into when I look at him. He has such specific likes and dislikes. For example, he loves fruit and hates peas.

William is such a lucky baby to have wonderful Grandparents who took him, and us, to St. Thomas for a week! We had such a great time. William loves the beach. He dug his hands into the sand and made little holes and piles with it. Then he looked up at me as if to say, "How do I get it off my hands?". He also loved the water. We'd float him on his stomach and he'd kick his legs and paddle with his arms! He didn't want to get out!

While we were in St. Thomas William started sleeping on his side. But because he likes to sleep with his neck stretched out, he arches back in his sleep and makes almost a question mark with his body. It's pretty cute and I'll post a picture when I manage to take one of that pose. In the meantime, below are pictures from the trip! (Yes, that is his lunch on his face in many of the pictures! He hates to have his face washed.)

Teeth!

Another William update that didn't end up in the long post below! William got his first two teeth after three painful weeks of teething! His first bottom tooth came through on his six month birthday, December 19th and the second one broke through on Christmas!

Hmm, already forgot something!

Not content with the long post below, I meant to also mention that at his six month appointment (really? Where did the time go?) William was declared a healthy happy baby solidly still in the 75% for height and weight. He's 27 inches and 19.2 lbs! The doctor said she loved seeing such a healthy baby! While watching him kick and kick and kick on the table she warned me to watch out! She thinks he'll be running around soon!

Thanksgiving to Christmas in one long post!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've really updated the blog! William is growing by leaps and bounds. Everyday he amazes me by learning something new. He's standing up really well now and loves walking around the room holding on to our hands. He sits up and plays all by himself. He's almost ready to crawl (though I still think he'll walk unassisted first because he really doesn't like his stomach) but he now rocks back and forth on his stomach just trying to move forward!

Over Thanksgiving we went to New York for Thanksgiving with the Chesnik side of the family. William had a great time playing with his Grandpa and Grandma. He also loved seeing his Gigi and second cousins, Scarlett, Brielle and Landon!

William with his Uncles Morgan and Griffin!


William loves his Grandma Susan!

William had fun playing with Grandpa Edward!


We brought William to his first Islander's game! He loved it. When we first walked in he was wide eyed at all the noise but then he jumped and jumped on my lap through the whole game. He loved watching all the people and lights around the rink.




After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner (Thanks Susan!) we took William to see Santa. William was concerned that this was a fake Santa so he decided to pull his beard. It's real!

Our Family!


When we got back from New York, I had to study study study for finals. In fact for a couple of weeks that's all I did. Right after finishing my last final we packed up again and drove up to Boston for Christmas! We just beat the snowstorm which was nice but it did cancel the brunch for William to meet more of his relatives. We did get to introduce William to my cousin, Alana and her husband Eric. (How did I not get any pictures of them together?!?). We also drove up so William could meet his Great Great Aunt Peg! Finally, that night he got to meet cousins John and Nancy. (Again, where was I with the camera?!?)


Twins!


Then we went down to the Cape for the rest of the week and Christmas. William showed off his Christmas pajamas.

He had a great time opening presents from Santa! He loved his stocking and all the presents inside.







After opening presents we drove to my Grandmother Helen's house. William was so excited to see his Great Grandma again! There he opened more presents!

Modeling his new hat!

Reading a new book with Grandpa Mike!

This whole week as so exciting, William was pretty tired and ready to nap every afternoon. I'll spare you all the story of The Massive Poop but if anyone is interested Taylor and my Dad will be happy to replay it for you.


We drove back to DC after a great Christmas (Thanks Mom, Dad and Pat!) and William opened more presents from his Grandma Susan and Grandpa Edward. What a lucky baby he is!

Phew, that is the month in short. In other news, I did pretty well on my finals! We leave for St. Thomas on Sunday and school starts again the day after we get back. We are really looking forward to another wonderful year!!