Will is One Month Old!!

Can you believe it?!  Will is already a month old!  Time just flies.  Will's one month doctor appointment was today.  He is now 10.1 lbs...he has gained 3 lbs since birth!  His height is 21.3 inches (a growth of one inch in the last 2 weeks) and his head circumference is 14.8 inches.  He is in the 50-75 percentile for all 3 so he is proportionate and doing well.  His doctor is so impressed and gave him a rating of "Awesome" again!  His doctor says that he will begin smiling a lot in the next two weeks.  John and I are so excited!  We can't wait for some real facial expressions and responses!

A One Month Recap....what we have all learned.

What Will Has Learned:
1. Mommy's milk is good!  Will can eat it constantly...hence why he has grown 3 lbs.
2. Tummy time is relaxing and not just a good workout.
3. Focusing on objects or people's faces takes a lot of concentration.  For now it is a blank stare.  He doesn't follow things yet but he is beginning to show signs that he will in Month 2.
4. Will's hands found each other just at the end of the Month 1.  He now holds his hands together across his chest.
5. Will can put all his weight on his legs and stand up with just a little support for balance.

What Mommy and Daddy Have Learned:
1. Brand new babies are adorable and predictable.  They eat, sleep, fart and poop...then start all over again.
2. Changing a diaper is not as easy as it looks.  Blocking that penis has been a challenge.  Catching Will between poos is an art.
3. What Dessitin is and how/when to apply it.
4. Will will always be hungry when you are about to sit down to eat.  There is no getting around it.
5. Mommy can survive on less than 9 hours of sleep!  Who knew?
6. Keeping Will awake during the day helps Mommy get a few more minutes of sleep at night.
7. Mommy has an uncanny sense of when Will is about to wake up at night.  A deep sleeper can be converted to a super light sleeper.
8. Babies grow so fast.  Need to take more videos and more pictures!
9. Preparation for leaving the house starts 2 hours earlier than it used to.
10. Priorities...Nothing in this world is more important than your baby!

Once we figure out our video editing software, we'll post some videos to recap his first month as well :)

William at One Month:

Daddy likes to mimic Will's expressions:

Daddy was tired after work and was trying to get Will to sleep with him.  Will was not tired though.

More Visitors (Edwards and Carlsons)....Will is so Popular!

Will got to meet his Grandpa Bill and Uncle Blake last week.  They arrived Sep 29 and stayed through the weekend.  The day Uncle Blake arrived, he left Seattle bundled up since it was in the 40's and arrived in Dallas where it was 96 degrees...and eventually hit 105 that day.  Quite a change for him.  Luckily, they brought the cool weather with them. It was a nice 85 the remainder of the week....which is hot for Blake.   Seattle doesn't see warm temps like that. 

Grandpa went to the butcher and treated us with some Awesome steaks!  The NY Strip was so thick, we ended up cutting it in half to make them thinner and normal width....never done that before!  Blake's T-Bone took up his entire plate.  He had to cut it into pieces and pile it up in order to fit other food onto his plate.  The steaks were gauranteed to be able to be cut with a butter knife.  We tested it out and it was true!  I had a filet and I ate my whole steak with a butter knife. 

 

We figured out how to video chat through the XBox's Kinect.  It is really neat because it shows everyone in the room.  It also automatically zooms in and out as you move around the room.  It will be GREAT when Will is older and moving.  For now, to get really close up shots we hold him in front of the camera. 

Here we are video chatting with Grandma Gwen.  Later we chatted with Grandpa Billy Noell.  Will is going to be an expert and think this is completely normal when he gets older.

We also Skyped with Grandma Gwen on the I-Pad 2.  Since only Will matters now, he was all that she could see when using that device :)

We played some bean bag toss (or Cornhole) on Friday night.  John held Will in front of him in his carrier.  It gave us a handicap which made the game a little more fair for our visitors, haha :)
Will wore a little hat and socks to go outside.  It was cold.  It was in the 60's!

Will's Great Uncle George and Great Aunt Renee stopped by with Second Cousin Jessica.  They brought him a cool Super Pig piggy bank with his first dollar.  He also got some protection from the supermarket with a cool shopping cart cover. 

Will was exhausted from so much socializing.  He was knocked out afterwards!

Grandma Jean's visit

John was gone for several days to attend his best friend's wedding in Connecticut.  Rashaun and Jen got married on Sep 24.  Congratulations guys!

Grandma Jean came down from Little Rock to help me watch Will for the week.  It was so nice to have the help!  I got some much needed sleep and was able to leave the house to run some errands.  (Will isn't allowed to be around crowds for the first 2 months per his doctor's orders). 

Just before Grandma Jean came, Will started to be abnormally fussy.  We couldn't figure out why he was crying so much.  He had been such a perfect baby up until that week.  Grandma helped us realize that Will was building up a lot of gas and just needed it to be relieved.  Knowing that has helped us make him feel more comfortable and therefore...less crying.  It is so sad and stressful when your baby cries from obvious discomfort and you have no idea how to make him feel better. 

Grandma captured all kinds of cute pictures of Will.  These are all right after he ate.  He always cuddles up and makes the cutest faces just after eating....that is when he is the most content!

  

 

Will gets surprised in his sleep and tends to lift both arms up at the same time.  Then he lets them hang in the air for a while.  It is so cute:

It was cold in the mornings when Grandma brought Will on a walk.  He got bundled up for the adventure.

I got lots of sleep.  I had stored up some milk so that I could sleep in and Grandma could bottle feed Will.  I felt like a new person with the extra sleep!

 Grandma also brought some new Razorback clothes for little Will and Butterbean.  Will looked so cute as a "Future Razorback!"  Everyone sported their new clothes for game day.

John got home from the wedding and Will was so happy to see his Daddy, he stood up for him!  (Well, he had a little help from Daddy, but he was putting a lot of his weight down and it was so impressive!)  Daddy was so proud!

Bath Time!

Will got his first real bath.  Up until this past week, he had only been getting sponge baths.  Now that his pediatrician OK'd a real bath, Will was treated to the sink.  He didn't think it was much of a treat though.  He was pretty unhappy the entire time.  His second bath went a lot better after we had some practice and knew what we were doing.

 

 

 

 

 

Visit from the Noell's

We had several of the Noell's at our house to visit Will.  Will's Great Grandparents June and Bill Noell drove down from Little Rock, Arkansas.  Will's Great Uncle Steve, Great Aunt Maria, 2nd Cousin Sean and his girlfriend Britney, drove up from the Fort Worth area.

Everyone is so excited that little William has finally arrived!  Will was passed around all weekend.

 

Great Aunt Maria made a beautiful quilt for us and Will has gotten lots of tummy time on it!  He loves his new quilt and we have gotten lots of compliments on it. 

 

 

Will's Great Grandparents gave him a bassinet that has been in the family for generations.  Great Grandpa Bill Noell first used it as a baby in the 1920's.  Then it was used by Grandpa Billy Noell in the 1950's.  Now little William is going to use it in the 2010's...almost a whole century later!