Family Time

Last week Gordon's parents came into town for a few nights!  William's mimi got into town early in the week so she could help us spruce up our house since we were planning to put it on the market.  She was such a great help!!  Getting a house ready to put on the market is half the battle.  It definitely helps you get organized and de-clutter.   
We had some yummy dinners out at a few of our favorite restaurants, did some house hunting on Saturday once Gordon's dad was in town and on Saturday grilled at our house.  The best part of living in the city are all the fabulous restaurants!  So, we've really been trying to get out and go to places we don't normally go to.  We took Jackie to BRC on Thursday and had yummy burgers and mojitos!!
We had a great weekend with the Gooding clan and can hardly wait for our annual trip to the beach this summer!

Gestational Birthday = 14 Months Old

From the day William was born we were told it would take him 24 months to "catch up".  This may seem weird or like a long time if you're not a parent of a preemie.  It even seemed strange to us at first but the doctors were right.  Babies change so much every month during their first 2 years so it's easy to tell William isn't his actual age.  But, we are patient and know he will do everything in his own time....when he's ready.  AND HE HAS!  It is incredible how much he has changed over the past 2 months!

Weight- 18 lbs 
Eating- His eating has changed quite a bit over the last two months.  He only drinks milk four times a day now (dropped one feeding).  I nurse him in the morning and before bed and he drinks milk twice at school (once from bottle and once from a cup).  He's not a fan of the sippy cup but we are trying.  He'd rather drink from a cup like a big boy (with lots of help of course).  He eats 4-5 containers of food a day that I make.  At school he has 2 fruits and a vegetable or chicken.  For a snack he has puffs, cheerios and/or pieces of fruit that I send to school.  If you put a puff in front of him he can pick it up and put it in his mouth but he won't do that with cut up fruit?!?  He'll only eat it if it's on a spoon?!?!   At dinner he usually eats chicken mixed with something (mango and spinach, sweet potato or apricots) and yogurt.  Over the last two month he's tried spinach and lots of table food.
Sleeping- This has been the area he's improved most in!!!!  I'm so happy to say that baby boy sleeps quietly through the night, everynight.  After I feed him he's really drowsy so there's no problem putting him in his crib.  Depending on the day, he's asleep between 7:15-8:00.  Knock on wood.....he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore.  He does talk some in his sleep and sometimes whimpers but never wakes up.  He wakes up around 6:00 and on the weekends will usually go back to sleep with us until 8:00.  Nap time varies.  At school he only takes one nap from 1:00-3:00 (give or take).  When he's home he usually takes an hour long morning nap and a 1-2 hour nap around 1:00.  Gordon and I were beginning to wonder if a full night sleep would ever return to our house.  We are thankful.  :)
Development- William still doesn't crawl "normal".  It's more of a scoot but he can move fast.  He can stand up and balance on his own but doesn't do it very often.  The other day he stood up from the squatting position without holding onto anything.  He can get moving fast in his walker but really prefers to be crawling all around like a mad man.  I've caught him standing up by himself (not holding onto anything) but he hasn't tried to take any steps yet.  Separation anxiety has improved but he does usually cry when I leave the room.  He points to everything and shakes his finger at you while he babbles away.  He knows where we keep his puffs and will point at the door until you get them out for him.  His "talking" has quadrupled and it's hilarious.  He has so much to tell us.  :)  Gordon and I joke that he sounds like he's speaking Chinese sometimes.  He's learned to blow bubbles with his mouth and can give you a hi-five.  He waves bye-bye and said "TA-DA" the other day.  He still loves bath time and he knows it's time to get out when I put the towel on my lap.  AND, last but not least, he's getting a ton of hair!!
Clothing size- Size 3 diapers. 9-12 month clothing.  In BabyGap he wears 12-18 month.    
Things mommy loves- I love talking to him!  He cracks me up.  The happiness and joy he has makes our world go 'round.  I'm so proud of him for (nearly) always being such a good boy.  Taking him out and about could be so much harder.  We are blessed in countless ways. 
Things WJG loves- He loves, loves, loves his wagon and drums.  He smiles the entire he's in the wagon.  He loves to sleep on his tummy with his butt in the air and he'll actually sit still and read a book now.  Hopefully we'll get lots more reading time in.
Things WJG doesn't like- Not too much bothers him.  When he wants down to crawl around and you can't or don't let him he gets a little crazy.  Diaper changing is a little more challenging (he hates laying on his back) but otherwise he's easy going.  I gave him a little piece of cheese the other day and he made a funny face.  I'm hoping it will grow on him because I love cheese!  He's definitely a mama's boy so strangers are not his friend (thank goodness). 
Funny Dad Moments- William and Gordon are so cute when they play together.  Gordon will hide behind our kitchen island and then sneak up and crawl around after William.  W thinks it's hilarious.  Gordon caught William putting puffs down in his highchair the other morning.  I heard him say, "Why would you want to put those puffs there?"  Gordon was shocked to find a dozen puffs in his seat.  haha.  Little kids! 
First time- Since his first birthday he's been to San Antonio, had his first swim lesson, got to play in sand and done some house hunting with mommy and daddy. 

LOVE YOU BABY BOY! 

Birthday Party Details

I know this post about William's birthday details is a little delayed but I figured it's better late than never!  Having his party at the zoo was a bit difficult because we had to bring everything in, set up, take everything down and load it back up all in 2.5 hours.  I wasn't able to hang things where I really wanted....but by the time the party started I really didn't care.  As long as everyone was having fun!  I will say I'm looking forward to having W's party at our home next year.  :)

 

These adorable invitations came from Bering's.  You really can't go wrong shopping at Bering's!  If you live in Houston you must go. 

 

 

We had two long tables to work with so one of them was used for presents and the other for food.  My mom bought the white tablecloths online and I found the yellow chevron table runners on ETSY.  William's adorable birthday cake and smash cake were made by Elizabeth with Eggleston's Edibles (you can find her on Facebook).  One of the cake layers was strawberry and the other two vanilla.  It was delicious.  I made the fabric banner hanging behind the presents.  I had originally planned to use it as a photo backdrop but there wasn't a good place to hang it from.  I got the fabric at Wal-Mart, cut it into long strips and then tied it onto white rope.  William had fun helping with this project! 

 

 

One of my favorite things were the centerpieces on each of the tables...sweet William's hand prints on pots!  Half of the pots were yellow and the others white.  The white pots had giraffes on them (I don't have a very good picture of the final outcome) and the yellow had zebras.  My mom found the pots at hobby lobby and spray painted them all white.  I then spray painted 3 of those yellow (over the white).  The yellow turned out to be my favorite AND they held the hand print color better.    

 

Once the spray paint dried we did William's hand prints.  As you can imagine, this is no easy task with a squirmy little guy.  I found the ink pads for his hand prints at Michael's.  The giraffes were orange and the zebras were white.  To make the handprints into animal I used a Sharpie marker (black for zebra and brown for giraffe).  His thumb print made the head/neck and his pinkie the tail.  The chevron boxes that some of the pots sat on were just cardboard boxes wrapped in paper I found on Etsy.    

At our wedding instead of having a traditional sign in book I made a photo book for people to sign/write notes in.  I love this book because it has all of my favorite pictures and our closest friends/family wrote us sweet notes in it.  So, I decided to do the same thing for William's birthday party.  This is such a great way to get all of your pictures into one place and to help remember the people that celebrated a special day with you! 

Photo book from Snapfish

I had a mason jar with primary colored pens next to the photo book and pictures from William's one year photo session. 

 



The chalk board in the back of the above picture said "William is One".  I put all the things he loved at that time.  :)

 

I made William's birthday banner with my new Cricut.  I'm so glad I bought this...it's super easy to use and fast (two things that every mommy is looking for).  I was able to make the entire banner in less than an hour!  I can't wait to do another project and to have a little craft area in our next house for my fun gadgets.  For this banner I used 3 different layers of paper.  Blue, yellow chevron print paper and green.  I'm planning on doing primary colors again for his 2nd birthday since our labels didn't make it in time for this party so maybe I'll use the banner again too!  

 



The marshmallows were dipped in green candy melts (yummy) and put in a clear jar with banana runts on the bottom.  The water bottles were wrapped in green ribbon and had a zoo animal on them.  We also had chocolate cake balls with William's monogram on them.  They are Gordon's favorite! 

 

 

I got all the party favors at Oriental Trading Company.  Everything was zoo themed of course. :)  Each bag had bubbles, a note pad, an egg filled with m&ms, and a stamp.  I got William's initials (that are on the table in the picture above) at Wal-Mart too.  They are just wood letters that I painted green. 

 

If you're planning a party I'd highly suggest starting as far in advance as possible (less stressful that way).  It's nice to buy things a little at a time.  Hobby Lobby and Michael's are both great places to find party and craft supplies!  That's where I got my Cricut, all the paper used for the banner, the Wilton candy melts for the marshmallows, the cellophane bags for the party favors and much more.  Etsy is also great if you prefer to shop online.  I was able to find his monogrammed bib and birthday hat on Etsy as well as the other stuff I mentioned in this post.

 

 

Happy birthday planning to all you mommies out there!  

  

Daddy's Day

Our house hunting and cleaning/organizing/de-cluttering has continued so our normal crazy busy life has continued to be overwhelmingly busy.  Thankfully, William is a trooper and does great being away from the house all day.  People continue to ask us how we get him to behave so well at restaurants etc.  All I can say is we just got lucky (and the next one will probably be a crazy mess). 

We did have some fun times this weekend.  William had his last swim class on Saturday and Gordon was able to come with us.  William is much more comfortable in the "swim position" on his belly but is not a fan of going under water....he recovers quickly though.  I'm thinking about signing him up for another session towards the end of the summer.  Music class starts back up this weekend and we only have time for one extra activity a weekend right now.  So, maybe another swim class in August!

Unfortunately, Gordon didn't have his ideal Daddy's Day since we are busy cleaning and getting all the baby stuff put away.  He was able to go to Top Golf last weekend so I didn't feel too bad.  We took a break from the cleaning on Sunday and grabbed a burger and fries at the park.  -- On a different note-- William has made huge improvements eating table food over the last week.  He still doesn't have any teeth so he can't eat too much.  We can give him pieces of tomato, squash, sweet potato from our plate, soft bread, any kind of puff and he even tried a tiny piece of burger.  He's also tried cheese but doesn't seem sold on it yet.  Life will get a little easier when we don't have to pack up food for him every time we leave the house!  I'm kinda envious of parents whose kids can eat off their plate!

Sunday afternoon William and I had our weekly play date.  I love having a little girl time and Gordon is able to go to the gym and get some downtime while we are gone!  It's a win win situation.  This week Aimee invited us to the Houstonian to swim.  The kids had so much fun!!  William is definitely a water baby and loves the splash pad (and this mommy loves to get a little sun).   

Things may be a little crazy around the Gooding household but we still find time to cuddle and play.  I am so thankful to have such a good daddy for William.  Gordon loves our little buddy to pieces and you can't ask for anything better in a husband.  They always say you marry someone just like your dad....I did just that!  They may be men of few words but they are dependable, responsible, honest, hard working men that take good care of their loved ones.  They are also hard headed and set in their ways but we wouldn't trade them for anything!!!     

Isn't it crazy how much a baby changes in 12 months.  We are amazed everyday at how big he's gotten.  Can you imagine what I'll be saying when he's 16!
Next Father's Day we are going to spoil Gordon...we won't make him lift a finger.  I hear J.W. Marriott calling our name.  :)

Wonderful Wednesday Plus Some

So, I'm a little behind on my blogging....we just seem to stay so busy and most nights movie time and sleep wins out to blogging.  With interest rates being so low Gordon and I have been playing with the idea of moving out to the burbs!!  YIKES!  So scary and yet exciting.  Our original plan was to stay in our current home for another year....but, it's kinda hard to pass up the low interest rates and the thought of having more space for William (most importantly a backyard) is appealing.  Sometimes God leads you down a path that you weren't expecting.

When we haven't been house hunting here's what we've been up to.....

The weekend before last Gordon was out of town so William and I just did lots of cleaning and playing.  We did get out on Sunday and do some fun stuff!  William had his second swim lesson, we went walking at the park and met Gordon there to hit golf balls and eat a burger for dinner.  Grant and Emily also met us for dinner.  We hadn't seen them in 2 months so dinner was long over due. 
This past week we had vistors!!  My parents came into town on Wednesday for the Fleetwood Mac concert.  We had such a great time and were able to relax and enjoy ourselves knowing that William was in good hands at home with his favorite teacher, Ms. Melissa.  He loves her so much.  I'll admit I'm a little crazy about William's safety....for example there aren't a lot of people I would let give him a bath when I'm not around....but I trust Ms. Melissa 100%. The concert was great!!  It didn't hurt that my mom got us fabulous seats on the 8th row!  I have so many childhood memories listening to Fleetwood Mac so it was fun to be there with my parents and hubby.  It's crazy to think that 90% of the songs I love were written before I was even born.
My parents visit came at a perfect time....William's daycare was closed on Thursday and Friday so they were able to stay in town and watch the litte guy on Friday while mommy and daddy worked.  We had a lazy day on Thursday and that evening we all went to my APHON meetings at Pappadeaux's.  While I was in my meeting my parents hung out with William.  I was re-elected to the secretary position and we got to see Stacy and Anna....and Anna's baby bump.  :) 

Memorial Park with his daddy -- William loves sleeping with his butt in the air  -- Saying bye to his nana and papa --  Ready for Fleetwood Mac -- I was almost named after Stevie! --  Thanks for the fun night Mom and Dad -- Playing with his new BassPro hat!

We are looking forward to Father's Day weekend!  Besides swim class and a play date we should have lots of down time to get the house organized and hopefully relax!!!!

Gus

A little over 6 years ago I met mister Gus for the first time.  He was only 6 months old and still just a little thing!  Well, little for a French Mastiff and little compared to how big he would eventually get.  Gordon was the third guy I dated with a Mastiff (that must say something about the guys I dated?!?!?) so I knew just what to expect.....drool and more drool.  :) 

Our first Christmas together

Gus ended up being smaller than his father and only got up to around 120 pounds.  Over the years we had some bumps in the road but overall he was a sweet dog that adored Gordon.  My favorite memories with Gus are during our days in Austin.  The three of us had so much fun during that year.  We'd go walking in the evening and catch frogs.  Gus always saw them before I did....luckily he rarely caught them so that I could!  We'd find random creeks to go play in.  We'd set up our lawn chairs in the water and watch Gus splash around for hours.  Gus loved laying in front of the window in the sunlight, playing catch with a ball, and laying on the couch.  Getting up on the couch was of course against the rules but he would sneak up there any chance he got!    

This is one of my favorite pictues of our family.  I know we will cherish it forever and ever. 

On June 1, 2013 Gus went to doggy heaven.  Our hearts are heavy.  Things had gotten pretty bad over the last two months with Gus' incontinence and we'd had some issue with his aggresiveness towards other dogs.  Regardless of all the bad that came with Gus there was a lot of good.  My husband adored him as did William.  He was a faithful dog with a big heart that I knew would protect us until the day he died.  I felt so safe with him in our home! 
I'll be honest, cleaning up after Gus was a nightmare.  The drool was overwhelming to me sometimes and I could never trust him to be alone with William....but, as I type this I feel so sad.  My heart hurts for Gordon.  He was a part of our family.  He was William's first dog.  He will be missed.  I know it will get easier every day but for now we are sad.  I know we will talk about him for years to come. 

Cuddling on our first Christmas together.

Gus made sure he was a part of our engagment.  He was biting on my dress while Gordon asked me to marry him. 

2010- Our first Christmas as The Goodings

He looked so cute when he slept like this.

Waiting for William to arrive!

Picture time with my parents during William's first month home from the hospital. 

Gus' favorite time of the day!

Happy Birthday William

Gus made us laugh :)



GUS GOODING ~ September 2006 - June 2013

We miss you Gus.