We made it to 1 year ...

Somehow Will's first birthday got lost in the chaos of the past few months. Not to worry -- we did celebrate in style with both sets of Grandparents and Will's buddy Gavin (who also turned 1 about 3 days before). Here are some photo highlights of the big event. Oddly enough, Will didn't seem to be all that excited about cake ... But Gavin did though. Maybe he's not really my child!!

Will loved all his new toys: 2 sets of nice wooden blocks, books from Great Grandma Marion, a crane add-on for his Tonka truck, and of course -- the curly ribbons from his gift wrapping were his favorite!

Our Baby's All Grows Up and Grows Up...

We finally made it to Will's big 1 year appointment yesterday after putting it off because of a cold and other stuff. Here are the stats (for those who are mathematically inclined):

Head circumference = HUGE!! (no really, maybe like 46 cm I think. I didn't write it down..)
Height = 30 1/4 inches (about 25th percentile)
Weight = 22 lbs., 7 oz. (about 50th percentile)
Development = Two bottom front teeth are IN, two top front teeth are coming. He's been crawling for a bit, but is moving on to pulling himself up and walking with support (from a push toy or Mom and Dad). Loves to say "uh-oh", clap his hands, and make silly adults dance when he pushes buttons on all his toys that play music... Says mama and dada, and babbles in his own language a lot. Likes to open and flip through any book he gets his hands on. Oh yeah, and he's definitely heading into toddlerhood with a bang, temper tantrums and all. I wonder where he got that temper from????

Anyway, the other good news is that his chest is clear (for those who know about our issues with his periodic wheezing when he gets colds). He seems to be doing well on his new meds, but the doc wants us to hold off on bringing the cats back until it's been a year. Yes - another said tale. The Twins are living with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson in Penn Yan while we wait and see how Will's "asthma" turns out. We miss them, but at least we know they're in good hands and we can visit them!

Heading into the holiday season we all feel very lucky to have made it this far. Besides being the hardest thing I've ever done, this motherhood thing is probably one of the most rewarding. Hopefully more posts to come soon since I finally can remember my login and password!

We're in for it now!

Still no pictures up -- but I promise some to come soon. In the meantime, here's the link again to our Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/tburgthompsons

A quick update on the boy. HE IS WALKING! Okay, not quite. But it feels almost that dramatic. About a week ago ( I swear), he really got into pulling himself up on everything. One week at Grandma and Grandpa Scheuer's for Thanksgiving, and now he can hold your hands and walk across the room. He's gotten so good now that he can grab the back of his little Tonka truck and walk himself around. No Mario Andretti here. Not so good at the corners or turns, but off and running.

We are in BIG trouble now.... Hard to think that one year ago today I was probably balled up in a corner somewhere obsessing over the color and number of poops Will had that day! Pretty funny stuff, this parenthood thing.

Movin' and Groovin'

Well, almost..... Will has finally figured out how to crawl. Last week he graduated from rolling and slithering, to something that looks like a crab walk with a dead leg!

He sort of pushes off with his left leg straightened, while he's up on his knees of the other leg. I'll try to get an action shot one of these days. And now that he's on the move, we're scrambling to buy gates and other safety stuff before he gets too mobile. A blessing and a curse for this age. He's already taken a few face plants and head bumps with the crawling experiment. Lucky for us he has a strong noggin!

I guess there's no stopping him now...

Where does the time go?

Can 5 months really go by that fast? Apparently so. Our attempts at blogging have been weak, but we do take pictures of Will that get posted on Picasa. But -- are you itching for more details? Hopefully I can provide a few.

First the numbers. Will is a little over 11 months, about 22 pounds, with his first tooth just peeking through. He's not crawling yet, but he's trying (see pic below). He loves sharp cheddar, veggie burgers, and mac and cheese. He says "mamamamam" and "dadadad", and is babbling up a storm these days. He's also discovered his tongue, and does a mean Gene Simmons (from KISS) impression. Check out his other favorite passtime: playing with his food!

We had a fun summer. Visited my parents in DC, went to the pool (Sun's out, Guns Out!), the beach on Long Island, and spent a little time in TBurg at the annual Fair and hanging in our "backyard pool" with Will's buddies Nate and Finn.

As for us (i.e. the parents), things have finally moved along with the winery. We're now proud owners of 11 acres of land on the west side of Seneca Lake! Not planning to plant grapes anytime soon, but will get the land prepped for it over the next few years. Maybe we'll be selling our wine in '09 if all goes well. Winery name suggestions are welcome!

The 6 Month Update

We're working on uploading more recent pictures, but for now here are a few from his 4-5 month stage. First, Will doing what he does best -- sacking out on my shoulder after nursing (note contented open mouth breathing). Next (for mature audiences only), Will in his too-cute Frog bathrobe after a bath. As Kenneth from 30 Rock would say, "My! What a short robe!" Perhaps just a tad too short and slightly indecent -- but he looks so cute in it...

It's been quite a while since we've posted, and I can hardly believe Will is already 6 months old. The time has flown by and Christian and I feel like we just might be able to handle this having a kid thing after all. So, here are the stats you've all been waiting for:

Weight = 16 lbs. 12 oz.
Height = 25 1/2 inches
Head Circumference = 43 1/2 inches

Yes, he has inherited the famed Thompson noggin to hold all those brains! The doctor says he's coming along fine -- not quite able to sit up by himself yet, but he's found his hands and is working hard on holding anything he can and trying to get it in his mouth. He's definitely teething (evidenced by the fountains of drool and inconsolable schizo periods of crying mixed with giggles and smiles), but no teeth yet. It really is amazing how quickly they change at this stage.

Will's already a hit with the ladies -- the daycare women all love him, and say he's the happiest, most easy-going baby they've known (maybe they're just buttering us up to feel better about the whopping weekly payments). He's starting to get a little weary of strangers and has been pretty clingy with Mom as of late -- all things I hear are normal. He still prefers to play with people versus toys, but has started a lovely relationship with the Exersaucer. He already jumps like a mad-man in the Jumperoo.

We started giving Will some solid foods around 5 months -- he was starting to grab at our food on the table, and would watch you like a hawk if anything passed your lips. He also wants to try to drink any and all beverages you might be holding. We started with a little rice cereal -- nothing structure, just to get him used to eating from a spoon and new textures. At this point, we've just recently moved to 2 "meals" per day -- but he really still gets most of his sustenance from Mom's milk. His supper is usually sweet potatoes and rice cereal, but he also likes carrots. His breakfast (at daycare) is cereal and mashed bananas (which he loves). We're starting to think Mikey will eat just about anything we put in front of him -- definitely a Scheuer!

Second Time a Charm

Well -- it may not be just a fluke! Will slept really well again last night, going to bed at 10:30-ish and sleeping until 5:30 AM. Not exactly like yesterday, but we'll take it. It also seems like he's going longer between feedings during the day and taking two good naps per day (one in the morning and one in the early evening). For a little guy born 3 weeks early, he's catching up fast. Hopefully the trend continues....

Oh, Happy Day!

They said it would get easier -- and I think we've hit a milestone in that direction. Will slept through the night last night! None of that 5 hour crap -- he was out for 8 (guess he is his father's son). We put him down around 11 pm (ok -- in his magic car seat in the crib, since he was WIDE awake for some reason and that car seat has magical powers to get him comfy) and we practically had to wake him up at 7 AM. I heard him a few times making some noises around 3:30 AM, but was amazed when he never actually woke up. It was a Hallellula moment when we brought him into our room at 7 and he woke up all smiles with two (relatively) well-rested parents. We aren't getting our hopes up yet that this is the beginning of a trend, but at least it's a start.

William is 12 weeks old tomorrow, and I guess he decided he's a big boy now. Also, he's started to really interact with us -- smiling, cooing, and laughing. He's also become more attached to Mommy, getting bored and cranky when he's been playing quietly by himself on the play mat and I'm trying to get dishes washed, etc. Of course this doesn't make my transition back to work any easier, but then again, I didn't really think it would be easy to begin with...

We do have some new pictures but they're not posted yet. We hope to get more up soon for everyone's viewing pleasure.

He Passes with Flying Colors!

My, how things are changing! I took Will for his 2 month check-up this past week (Jan. 10th to be exact), and the doctor pronounced him happy and healthy. He weighed in at 11 lb. 4 oz., and his head has grown a lot (definitely has the Thompson noggin). He is gaining weight at a good clip, and has jumped from the 11th to the 41st percentile for growth. The doctor asked if we'd been slipping him burgers on the side... I think Will is just catching up to where he would have been if he were born at term. Of course, month 2 is also the first set of immunizations (read shots), and Will got 4 of them plus an oral vaccine. Let's just say I now know what his "pain" cry looks/sounds like... He was a very brave guy, and proceeded to sleep and eat for the next day and a half -- and boy was he a cranky fellow in between. But, he's back to normal now and hasn't had any side effects. The doctor told me I didn't act like a first-time mom at the appointment -- I just laughed and told him that he should have been with me over the last 2 months! Things have gotten much easier, and although we're still sleep deprived and running around like chickens with our heads cut off -- we've at least settled down into something of a routine with Will, and are starting to feel we might get a hang of this parent thing yet.

Welcome to 2007-- Year of the Will

Well, this blogging thing is a lot harder than we thought. Seems like we keep meaning to post more stuff, and then the days slip away. The good news is that we're taking a lot of pictures of Will (taking pix has never been our forte). Check the Picasa web site for the latest (just went up today). Will is 8 weeks today, and he's turning into quite a personality. We've seen our first genuine smiles, given several successful baths, and went out for our first dinner with Will in tow. Turns out Will really digs the local jazz/blues quartet at The Pourhouse (a TBurg bar/restaurant)... Who knew?!

On the sleeping front, Christian and I are taking turns at night with feedings (guess who gets the 3 AM gig) -- so we each get a relatively decent amount of sleep. The breast pump is my constant companion, so I also get up for a feeding and pump while Christian feeds Will. The whole pumping experience belongs in a separate Blog, but needless to say, I'm still at it for now. The good news is that Will is alert and awake more during the day (finally!), taking cat naps here and there in between frenzied eating every 2 hours (and sometimes every hour and a half!). And at night he's sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches, with one early AM feeding, but then likes to start his day pretty early (at least for us). That's 6 - 7 AM these days. ;-) But as we've come to realize -- the only constant with a baby is change. Every day is different, and once we think we have it figured out, he changes again. Guess we can look forward to this for the next 20 years or so...

The holidays were fun, with Mama Kate and Grandpa Dan coming up from VA for the celebration. The Thompsons joined us on Christmas Day for more presents and an early dinner. The big news is that we haven't had ANY snow here in upstate NY to speak of, and it's been in the 50s and 60s. Unheard of -- but I ain't complaining!

On a down note, it looks like Christian and I may not be fit as parents --- since we seem to have lost our daycare spot for Will. DOH! We took a bit too long to call references and get back to her, so Adios daycare. Hello no other infant spots coming up in February in ANY local in-home daycare providers. Guess we're going to have to get creative in the meantime. Not sure what that means for my work schedule, but Grandma Jean has offered 2 days a week until we can get something full time. Keep your fingers crossed!