9 months

It's hard to believe that in 3 months we will have a ONE year old.  Time really does fly by.

9 months old
Weight- 15 lbs (0.2% and 10% on preemie growth chart)
Height- 27 inches (10% and 40% on preemie growth chart)
Head Circumference- 17.2 inches (10% on both charts)
Eating- His eating is pretty much the same.  He drinks about 24 oz of bmilk/day and is eating cereal, a fruit and a veggie every day (when he's not sick that is).  I cut out the night time feeding, at 2am, on January 1st and he's done great.  He hasn't tried many new foods over the past month because he's been sick and not wanting to eat.  We did add one fruit to the mix...mangoes!  Green beans is next on the list!  2 weeks ago I gave him some yogurt and the poor thing was allergic!   He started coughing a lot and the area all around his mouth turned red.  I had a mini freak out.  When kids are about to have an anaphylactic reaction the first thing that happens is coughing.  Thank God Gordon was able to calm me down.  The redness went away after a couple of hours but I was a nervous wreck.  We now have benadryl at the house for emergencies!  The next morning Gordon told me he's decided that he's the one that keeps it together in scary situations (this was not the case during the delivery and NICU!)....I reminded him that I've seen a lot of scary things over the past 8 years as a nurse and I'm terrified of having them happen to William.  The images that were going through my head when William started coughing and turning red were NOT good.  Anyways, we'll try yogurt again later on.  I'm guessing this may mean William has a milk allergy (much like his daddy did at that age).  Looks like he'll be on breast milk for longer than I'd planned....which is fine by me....we have plenty of it and it's free!
Sleeping-  The past two weeks have been pretty rough since William has been sick.  Having a yucky nose and coughing makes sleeping hard for a baby.  I'll admit that I've been bad about putting William to bed at night once he's already fallen asleep.  I know I started a terrible habit but holding a sleeping baby is just so sweet.  So, in the middle of the night if William wakes up he has a hard time putting himself back to sleep (not fun for anyone).  As of Wednesday we are trying the crying out method which includes putting baby into bed awake and only going into the room for one minute after letting him cry for a designated amount of time (they differ each night).  The first night you let them cry for 3 minutes before going in and then 5 minutes, and every 10 minutes thereafter.  The second night you leave for 5 minutes, then 10, then 12....you get the picture. :)  I did it during his afternoon nap Wednesdsay and it took him about 25 minutes before he fell asleep.  Since then I've put him to bed awake (easier said than done) everynight.  He falls asleep so quickly after his night time bottle so this can be tricky!  I lay him down while he is wide awake, say I love you, give him a kiss and he's been asleep within 10 minutes.  Baby boy has slept through the night since then!  He will whimper some during the night but has put himself back to sleep within minutes.  YIPPEEEEE.  My fingers are crossed that this is the new normal.  I feel bad for starting the bad habit but hopefully we will all adjust quickly to the new routine and stricter bedtime of 8pm.  William was a newborn for so long that we were able to get away with no real routine or set bedtime.  Gordon and I both agreed that the time had come.  So, it's early dinners for us from here on out!             
Development- We had to answer NO to all the developmental questions this month.  Baby boy isn't crawling yet and can't pull up.  They asked if he is waving hi and bye and he actually kinda is.  He is always waving his hand and I think it's starting to become purposeful.  I'm not sure he'll ever be much of a crawler because he hates being on his stomach!  He rolls over onto his back within minutes of being put on his tummy.  He's always rocking back & forth when he's sitting up so I know he's anxious to get moving!  Willliam definitely knows who mom and dad are and would love it if I held him all day long.  His favorite thing to do is play peek a boo with Gordon.  The longer you do it the harder he laughs.  It's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.  :)
Clothing size- Size 2 diapers but once we run out we are moving up to 3 (Pampers tend to run bigger than Huggies so size 2 works great still).  He's still mostly in size 6 month but 9 month stuff isn't huge anymore. 
Things mommy loves- Everything!  He just gets better everyday.  It's so fun to hear him talk, discover new things and to see him smile!  My favorite is when he lays his sweet little head on my chest.  Such a sweet baby boy. 
Mommy stuff- The hair loss has slowed down thank goodness and has been followed by new hair growth.  So, I have these short little hairs all over my head.  Weird.  I've been below my pre-pregnancy weight since July and am not looking forward to gaining it back once the nursing stops.  I can't say I'm ready for my gym days to start up again!
The ultrasound I had done last month showed that I either have a bicornuate uterus or a septum.  I'll have a procedure done this summer to see which one it is.  If it's a septum they will hopefully be able to fix it during this procedure.  If it's a bicorunate uterus it will be left alone and the next pregnancy I will have a cervical cerclage.
Things WJG loves- Bath time is still one of his favorite times of the day.  He gets startled every time I turn on the water.  His new favorite thing is to put his hand under the running water.  It's funny how all of a sudden he notices something that's been there all along!  He is constantly grabbing my hair or necklace and touching my face.  His first word will probably be nose since I say it every time he touches mine. 
Things WJG doesn't like- W is a lot like his daddy.  He is super quiet when he's around other people.  As soon as it's just the three of us he starts talking up a storm!  He will let anyone hold him but he's definitely starting to show a preference to his mommy.  He tends to wake up a little fussy after his afternoon nap but snaps out of it within 15 minutes.
When we walk outside into the cold he squeezes his legs really tight around you...it's like he's saying "Please hold me tight, I'm cold!"
Funny daddy stuff- Listening to Gordon talk to William still makes me smile.  After many yucky diapers on Monday G was bathing W and I heard him say, "uh-oh we forgot to wash your hiney and you have a stinky hiney!"  haha!  Sad but true.  Gordon is always reminding William to stay tough.  If he ends up being anything like Gordon he will be super tough and won't be a complainer! :)

We had a little bit of a melt down during the photo session so we had to resume it the next day!  As you can see he tends to stick his little tongue out when he's smiling.  Silly boy!

Wonderful Wednesday

Since the little guy was finally feeling better and had been fever free for more than 24 hours he headed to daycare yesterday morning so I could run some errands.  I figured getting back to our normal schedule would be helpful too!  G dropped him off at daycare and I headed out to grab some coffee, drop off dry cleaning and get my car's oil changed and carpets cleaned.  After all of that I headed to the nail salon in my sparkling clean car.  I was in desperate need of a pedicure!!!  At 11:30 I picked William up so we could go get daddy for lunch.  After having some yummy enchiladas William and I headed to a little play date with Emersen and Rachel.  I trained Rachel at M.D. Anderson 3 years ago and we became fast friends!!  Her little girl, Emersen, is 16 months old and she is due to have another little girl in March.  We took advantage of the beautiful weather and played at the park before walking over to the yogurt shop.  I'm sure Emersen will enjoy William much more when he can actually play with her!  At least the mommys have fun catching up with each other. 

Our day didn't end there.....we then headed to William's 9 month check up.  Dr. Freedman said his ears looked good and his lungs were still clear.  I guess he just had a little virus.  He's feeling much better today and not nearly as snotty.  A resident saw William first and said he was a very well behaved baby.  :)  He lets them look in his ears, listen to his chest, press on his stomach and everything else without shedding any tears.  After the doctor we finally made it back home (thank goodness for my portable Medela pump).  This mommy popped some chicken in the oven, made some potato soup, we read some books, W had a short nap and then we called it a day!!      

• Smiling at his daddy who was playing peek a boo with him.
• He loves touching the water during bath time.
• Snoozing in the morning (love how he sleeps!).

We are looking forward to this weekend....his Mimi is coming to town and Aunt Emily is having a bridal shower! 

Sick Baby

Last week William started having a cough, runny nose and yucky diapers.  He refused to eat anything beside bottles and just wasn't acting like himself.  We had a trip planned to West Texas and were leaving on Friday so I decided to take him to the pediatrician last Tuesday.  I wanted to make sure his ears were okay before we made the flight to Midland.  At that point he hadn't had a fever.  Everything check out good.  No ear infection and his lungs were clear.  Baby boy just had a virus. 
Friday morning we packed up and headed to Midland.  William did great and he even ate some cereal and apples before we got on the plane!  We were going to Lubbock that night to see George Strait and Martina McBride kick off his last tour so once we were in Midland I started getting everything ready for my grandparents to watch him.  Gordon gave William a bath, he ate some cereal and sweet potatoes and all of his toys and other important belongings were unpacked and ready to go.  He seemed to be feeling better....which of course made me feel better!  Well, that's where it ended.  At 2am William woke up and had a 102 temperature.  He turned 9 months old on Saturday so I guess we should be thankful this was his first fever.  Luckily, tylenol broke his fever every time and he was still drinking all his bottles everyday.  He did stop eating food again.  Nighttime has been no fun.  He wakes up every 1-2 hours crying.  :(  We flew home on Sunday afternoon and I've been at home with him since.  He's been a sweet baby the entire time.  There's been a lot of snuggling, vicks vapor rub, cool rags, tylenol and saline nose spray!  Yesterday he had a fever at 4 am and again at 4pm but has has been afebrile since then.  Yippeee!  He still didn't sleep well last night but was able to eat some cereal and mangoes today for lunch.  Tomorrow is his 9 month check up...I'm curious to see what they say about his ears.  I don't think he has an ear infection but you never know?!?!
Being off work for the past two days makes me feel like I'm back on maternity leave.  It's been OH SO NICE!!!  I love getting up, drinking coffee and watching GMA while William takes his morning nap, doing laundry and dishes/bottles throughout the day, snuggling with my baby whenever I want and not feeling rushed to get everything done before an early bedtime because of work the next day.  I'm already looking forward to maternity leave with the next baby.  HAHA.  But, it's back to work on Thursday.  Hopefully we can get this baby's sleeping situation back under control before next week.  YUCK. 

Waiting for the doctor

Have a good day at work Daddy!

Feeling better today so we got some
fresh air and Vitamin D at the park!

Wonderful Wednesday + Weekends

With the holidays behind us, we are finally starting to get back into the swing of things.  It's crazy how quickly William's schedule gets messed up when he's not getting up early in the morning and going to school while we work.  He started sleeping in later (not a bad thing) and staying up a little later.  We finally got back on track....and then baby boy got a cold!  NO fun.  :( 

 

The weekend before last we had an early dinner at our favorite Mexican food place with the Wilsons.  Afterwards, we came back to our house and watched a little football while the kids played.  They were so cute in their PJs.  The next day we went to church and lounged around. 

 

Here's a little update on William's new year's resolution....

Until January 1st William had been waking up around 2am and I was still nursing him.  He would wake up screaming....a hungry cry.  Well, I started noticing that it wasn't such a mad cry anymore (more of I'm awake cry) so I figured I'd see what he'd do if I didn't feed him....I was pleasantly surprised.....he did great.  I just put a paci in his mouth and back to sleep he went.  So, he's still waking up but usually going right back to sleep.  One night he did cry for an hour.  I tried the "cry it out" thing but after 40 minutes went in and put a paci in his mouth.  That worked for a few minutes and then he was back at it again.  After another 30+ minutes I gave in and picked him up and rocked him.  I had to work the next day and was TIRED.  I also figured if he stayed up all night crying he would just end up sleeping all day at daycare?!?  The two nights following that he slept through the night!  Now he has a cold so he's waking up every hour from his coughing, sneezing and yucky nose.  Poor little guy.  But, at least we are making positive progress.  I'm sure people think I'm crazy for still doing a night time feeding with a nearly 9 months old.  And to that I say, I think our situation is different than most.  Gordon and I had a newborn baby for 4 months.  That's a long time to get no smiling, no cooing and be doing constant feedings.  At 4 months William only weighed 10.5 lbs.  Some babies are born that big and most weigh that by 2 months.  In the end, it will all work out!  One day we will have a baby that sleeps through the night.  Really, all that matters is that the three of us have survived...and happily at that. :)  

 







Wonderful Wednesday!  The litte guy and I had a pretty uneventful Wednesday last week.  It has been rainy and gross outside lately so we just stayed home all day.  I organized one of the kitchen cabinets that we keep all of our spices in.  After that I did some organizing/rearranging in the laundry room and last but not least Gordon's closet.  I got lots of laundry done, made salmon for dinner and was even able to take a morning nap with William. 

How funny is the picture of William in the bathtub!?!?!  He cracks me up!  I think he was starting to not feel good on Wednesday because he was a bit clingy to mommy....or maybe it's just a stage.  I hear separation anxiety is around the corner.

 

Playing with my remote control!

We had another calm weekend here at the house.  Lots of cleaning, movie watching and book reading.  We did get out and meet the Zitos for some yummy pizza at Collina's on Saturday night.  Their little girl is precious!  I can't wait until William can play with her. 
This weekend we have something super fun planned so I'm hoping William starts feeling better soon!!! 

Guest Blogger for TCH ~ New Year's Resolutions

2013 is here and 2012 is gone….and to be honest I was a little sad. We welcomed our precious baby boy into this world in 2012 so it will always hold a special place in our hearts. I can only hope that this coming year is equally as wonderful! The holiday season was extra fun this year with our new addition. Just watching him toss wrapping paper around makes my heart melt. We even started a few new traditions in the Gooding house. Gordon and I decided that every year, at the beginning of December, he and I would have a movie date followed by Christmas shopping for the the little buddy. We also added an Elf On A Shelf to our Christams décor in prepartion for the years to come!! Having a baby in the house during the holidays seems to make everything sparkle a little more. 
With the holidays now behind us we are looking forward to the new year and lots of new things…like a mobile baby!   This leads me to one of my new years resolutions…..organizing and baby proofing. The medicine cabinet and cleaning closet now have a total new meaning….danger. I’m also hoping to get back into a work out routine. After being put on bedrest, living at the hospital for a month and then keeping up with the needs of a newborn and my family I just ran out of time and motiviation. So, hopefully one of these days soon I’ll get a burst of energy and be back in workout mode (it’d probably help if the little guy would sleep through the night….that’s an entirely different resolution though! ).

 

 

 

Holding my Elf!

   

Christmas Cards and a New Year

It's hard to believe that 2012 is gone.  Time has never flown by so quickly!  Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best part of the year.....well, honestly I love something about every part of the year but the holidays are filled with family time, Christmas lights, yummy food, cooler weather and Christmas cards....and nothing makes me happier!  Although I'm sad to see it go I am glad to have a calmer calendar ahead of us.  Having something scheduled every weekend makes the normal day to day life even more hectic! 



William has been a busy bee!  He gets his creativity from his daddy. :)

As you can see in the picture above we have a little artist on our hands.  HAHA.  I don't think I'll ever be able to throw this stuff away!  When I opened the card from William I cried.  Yep, I sure did (motherhood has turned me into an even bigger softy than I already was).  His teachers got us an ornament with a picture of him and this home made card.  It's the best gift I got all year.  Seriously.  That little boy couldn't make us any happier!  We're also so glad and grateful he's able to go to a school where they love him and take such good care of him while we are working. 


Moving forward....here's a little recap of our New Years and getting Christmas cards in the mail....

I'll start with our first family Christmas card.  We had pictures taken while we were in Texarkana over Thanksgiving and really loved how they turned out!  I ordered the cards a couple of weeks before Christmas but encountered a little bit of drama trying to get them delivered to our house.  FexEx said they had been delivered to our house but we never received them.  :(  I called TinyPrints to let them know and was surprised when they said they would give me a refund.  Long story short FexEx discovered the cards had been delivered to the wrong house so I went by and got them (by then it was only a few days before Christmas)!  The cards went out a little late but I figured it was better than never.  When we got back in town from Midland I called TinyPrints to let them know we ended up finding the cards and to please recharge me.  The lady was a little surprised and ended up only charging me half of the original price.  The story gets better.....yesterday I got a handwritten letter in the mail from TinyPrints! 
Here's what it said:
It was an absolute pleasure assisting you today.  Thank you so much for calling us after receiving your order and letting us know.  Your honesty is commendable and truly appreciated.  Thanks again for the reminder that there are still good, honest, upstanding people in the world.
I will forever order from TinyPrints!!  Not only were they willing to refund me for a mistake they didn't make but they sat down and took the time to hand write a note thanking me for calling.  Great company in my opinion!!!

Gordon and I got to have a night out together on New Years Eve.  It was our 5th year to go to dinner at Sonoma Wine Bar on NYE.  2009 we went with Whitney and Chris, 2010 we got engaged that night!, 2011 was our first married NYE, 2012 we went with my parents and I was preggo, and 2013 our 8 month old baby was at home!  After a yummy dinner and some delicious Cakebread we went to a new bar in our neighborhood.  I had some champagne and G had a beer, we ran into some old friends and at 10:00 we headed home to see our sweet baby boy....who was surprisingly still awake!!  I guess he knew it was a party night.  Don't worry, after snapping a few pictures on an iPhone, William and I were off to bed and asleep by 10:30.  haha

"Guys, what is on my head?"

 

Most days he drives me crazy but I couldn't love him any more!

We had a relaxing New Years day.  I slowed cooked some black eyed peas, we lounged around in our PJs and William made a new year's resolution to sleep through the night!  :)

YEAH for 2013!!!

Christmas (Part 2)

 

Christmas morning we woke up and lounged around in our PJs drinking coffee and eating waffles before we started opening presents. William picked a great time to start sitting up on his own.  :)  We had so much fun watching him "open" presents....really he was more interested in the bows and wrapping paper (and all the dogs running around).  Later in the morning we went to church and then spent the rest of the afternoon laying around.  We had some family game time, watched some Christmas shows and I did all our laundry before packing up all of our stuff so we could head back home!  Thankfully, William did great on the flight back and he didn't have any problems with his ears after we landed.  His mimi got into town that night so she could watch him the rest of the week while Gordon and I worked.  The two of them had a fun couple of days together! 
As always, we had a great time in Midland!  I love that Gordon gets to get outdoors and do fun stuff while we are there.  I also love that William adores my parents, Dustin and Skye.  I hate that we live so far away but thankfully everyone gets to see him at least once a month.  I have about a million pictures of William sleeping in Dustin or my dad's arms.  Guess I should call them the baby whisperers!  Dustin will be an excellent daddy one day.

We opened presents with Mimi on the 26th after having dinner with Grant, Emily and Emily's mom.  Gordon and William got me a beautiful necklace!  G and I had talked about it for my "pushing present" but instead I got some fancy shoes that I never thought he'd actually ever buy me!  William's birthstone was supposed to be emerald so I'd looked at that originally...since he was born 8 weeks early his birthstone ended up being a DIAMOND!  So, I thought a blue stone would be perfect to represent our blue eyed baby boy.  I'll remember our perfect first Christmas with William every time I wear my necklace!  Gordon of course got a new truck, money towards a new gun, some new shoes and clothes.  My parents got us a great new vacuum that will make cleaning the stairs a breeze!  I also got some beautiful pictures frames from the Goodings and new boots, work shoes, earrings and a phone cover from my parents.  The little buddy got lots of toys, books, puzzles, clothes, a new backpack and lunch box. 

Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas week!  I think the best part is having extra time off work to spend together.  There is nothing better than cuddling on the couch with my boys.  I decided to take it easy until after the new year.  I spend most of my free time when William is napping running around the house cleaning or doing laundry.  Instead, Gordon and I got lots of movie time in.  We have only watched a few movies since William was born but that all changed over the break!  If William was napping we were on the couch watching either a movie or one of our favorite cooking shows.  I'm already looking forward to our next "staycation"!

We are so lucky to have the families that we do!!!  We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

Christmas (Part 1)

The Friday before Christmas we loaded the car up and headed to the airport for Midland!  We got our bags checked and through security in record time.  We even had time to grab a burger for dinner.  William did great on the flight...he and I even fell asleep towards the end.  Unfortunately, this is where our luck ended.  The poor little guy's ears were hurting so he screamed the whole drive home and then proceeded to vomit all over me once he was out of his carseat.  This continued on for about an hour.  We gave him a bath, bottle and some tylenol and he finally calmed down and fell asleep.  He woke up the next morning happy as can be! 
Saturday morning I had an amazing massage while Nana watched William and daddy hunted with Papa.  My mom and I finished some last minute Christmas shopping, ate lunch at one of my favorite Mexican food joints and bought the cutest rodeo outfit for William at a little boutique.  That night we went to another of my favorites, Venezias, for dinner with my parents.  There was a couple about my parents age sitting next to us....when in walked in their son dressed in his military uniform.  The mother jumped up hugging him tight and cried.  Their son had obviously come home from duty and surprised them.  I then proceeded to cry as well.  I just can't imagine being in her shoes.  She must be so scared and so proud all at the same time.  My sweet mom and dad picked up their check that evening.  THANKS TO THOSE THAT SERVE! :)  After getting William down to bed G and I headed out to have a little date night and catch up with some old friends. 
Sunday we did lots of relaxing.  G and I were a bit under the weather so we tried to get some naps in when we could.  Gordon and my dad went shooting that day and I made enchiladas for dinner!
Christmas Eve was spent cooking and doing more laying around before my grandparents came over for dinner.  I must say my mom did an excellent job cooking!  We had yummy prime rib along with a million other things.  I even ventured out and made green bean casserole for the first time (using a great recipe from The Chew).  Dustin and Skye got back into town that day so we had a houseful.  William had lots of people to play with that evening!  We had planned on going to church that evening but W started getting sleepy so we decided to go on Christmas day.  So, instead we cuddled on the couch and watched It's A Wonderful Life.  Doesn't get much better than that!!   

Up next....Christmas Day!